Any larger file for Blueprint for Power?

[Cho450]

Hi all, I'm Cho from Bangkok and I'm new.

I got myself a vintage Duc and I was so interested in the "Blueprint for Power" available in Tech section.
However, after I downloaded it I found the letters so small and so grainy I can't read, especially the configuration numbers
(and those are too risky to guess...you know)

So, does anybody have any idea if there's a larger file available and where can I find it?

Thanks in advance and have a nice day.

Cheers

[JimF]

Hi Cho,

What numbers are too grainy? Is it the compression section?

[Eldert]

a guy on Ebay is selling the blueprint for power in posterformat for 20 bucks

item nr 190395585603

its a Aermacchi guy from Petaluma Cal

Eldert

[jbcollier]

Don't cut your ports as illustrated in the blueprint. Never reduce the port floor, heck I built mine up.

[DewCatTea-Bob]

" Don't cut your ports as illustrated in the blueprint. Never reduce the port floor, heck I built mine up. "

____ Either/Or, it's all fun-play stuff but,
what ya then get in exchange for that fun-play (port-work) is just an extra fraction of a HP at red-line.


Dukaddy-DUKEs,
-Bob

[LaceyDucati]

____ Either/Or, it's all fun-play stuff but,
what ya then get in exchange for that fun-play (port-work) is just an extra fraction of a HP at red-line.

If all you are getting is a fraction of a HP at the red line, you ain't doing it right! John is absolutely right, NEVER remove material from the floor of the port, it's too low to start with and I, like John, always build up the floor. If you have a low cut port with a sharp entrance on to the seat there is no way it's going to flow round that corner. I have done lots of flow bench testing over the years and there is a clear correlation between my flow figures and bhp. What you have to remember is that a straight hole might look like it's going to flow well but what you are trying to do is direct the flow around the valve using as much of the curtain area as possible so that as much mixture as possible enters the cylinder. Cutting all the guide boss away is also a mistake as it will invariably end in the guide coming loose. I don't deny that some of the "stick a cutter down the port" type jobs wont probably improve on standard flow, but if you actually want a real performance gain you will have snookered yourself as you will be wanting some of that metal back. The thought that this is a "stage one" porting job is sadly mistaken as when presented with this scenario, stage two is first find another head!

food for thought.... Nigel

[DewCatTea-Bob]

" If all you are getting is a fraction of a HP at the red line, you ain't doing it right! "

____ I sure didn't mean to claim that port-shape isn't (or is) more important than port-size, nor that higher flow-figures don't directly relate to higher HP-figures !!
__ I do say however, that all the work of such intake-port alteration is not worth the small-gain you'd get.
I think that's very fair to say for everyone who's not really into getting every last HP that they can get, out of their DUKE-engine. _ As it should be realized that if all else remains exactly the same between two otherwise identical engines, the exact shape of the intake-port is not going to make a whole-heck of a lot of difference in max-power output !
So just for instance,, the difference in HP between a 350 with the enlarged-port and a 350 with a perfect-shaped port, might be as much as 3%,, which in an engine that produces near 33 real-HP, means we're talking under 1-HP difference ! _ In any case, we certainly have to be talking about amounts of HP-gain which could barely make-up for 10LBs of rider-size difference.
__ If we were truely talking about a worth-while amount of added horse-power, like 2-HP or more difference,, just due to the 'shape' of the port only, (all on it's own!), then such claim as that has to be proven, in order to get me to buy-into tales of such fantastic-magic !


Dukaddy-DUKEs
-Bob

[LaceyDucati]

the exact shape of the intake-port is not going to make a whole-heck of a lot of difference in max-power output !

Building modified engines is a lot more than one single component and a well modified engine is a synergy of all its components. I have been building and modifying Ducati engines for many years and I have seen many modified heads and heard of lots of tales. We have to work in reality and track results and dyno figures speak for themselves. For instance, I have seen many 350 engines with all the trick bits with a large, not particularly well ported head, which will only produce figures around your 33 hp and conversely an engine running standard road engine components on a road exhaust, but with a modified head & larger carb producing similar horsepower. The point being if the head does not flow well no matter what other trick bits you throw at it, the returns will be limited. A lot of poorly modified heads wont actually flow more air with a high lift cam and in fact the reverse can be true. I guess you pay your money, you take your choice and my customers seem to be happy to pay and they seem to be getting some good results. I personally dont believe in "fantastic magic" but I don't think you will have to dig too far to find evidence of my credentials in Europe.

[DewCatTea-Bob]

" I don't think you will have to dig too far to find evidence of my credentials in Europe. "

____ I really don't disagree with anything you've stated Nigel, and I sure don't have any reason to doubt your credibility ! _ I didn't mean to raise anything of the sort.
__ Only thing was, is that I need to see dyno-results, (not just flow-figures), which confirm substantial HP-improvement due to port-shape alone.
I'm sure port-shape can help air-flow and that it's resultant improved flow could be increased greater than 3%, but at it's best, I doubt it could possibly translate to much more than a single HP in a 350.
__ I've had some experience with directly-comparing different intake-ports on 350-engines with no other difference,, unfortunately not using a dyno, but rather out on the road, and (despite whatever chosen identical-carb.size matched to both ports, for the comparison), the difference in the ports just did not make any obvious difference (against fighting the wind-speed) at all,, (where as a real-HP difference would have) !
Thus I believe I have good reason to think that something as minor as port-SHAPE, doesn't really translate to any worth-while HP-improvement, outside of the shop-room and on the road (which is the only place where it really counts!).
I have to add, no one's been more disconcerted & disappointed about improved-specs not actually making any notable-difference out on the road, as I was. _ (I still scratch my head about it.)
__ I welcome others to try-out direct-comparison of otherwise identical DUKEs with only the one/single difference which they wish to compare, for any resulting change in outcome,, and (likely!) confirm that even bigger-changes than port-shape, don't make any worth-while change.


Dukaddy-DUKEs,
-Bob

[jbcollier]

My favourite quote regarding Ducati heads:

Frank Scurria on the bevelheads list wrote:

As for the head---the ports were a terrible design from the beginning. In the early '60s, I took a Ducati head to my friend, C.R. Axtell. I asked him, "Ax, how can I make this head really good?" He looked at it, shook his head, and said, "I'm sorry to say this my friend; you can make this a little bit better, but you'll never make it really good." I did what he suggested and it was much better, but there just isn't enough material around the ports to make them right. The head was a bad design as a 175 and except for the combustion chamber design, never got any better as it got bigger. It's just something we have to learn to accept. You can make it better, but you'll never make really good.

Who is Frank Scurria:

http://www.bevelheaven.com/FotoPage-229.htm

Who is C. R. Axtell:

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloff ... acerid=117

http://www.xr1200ownersgroup.com/site/s ... e-Guru-RIP

How much better can you make the port? Quite a bit actually but it's not for the feint of heart. I have seen heads so heavily reworked that you would hardly recognize them there's been so much welding and porting. At a recent vintage meet, such a heavily modified Ducati 450 was soundly beating the repo Norton Manxes!

For the street?

Start with a small port head, don't touch the port floor, leave the guide supported, work slowly and open it up as best as possible so there is a slow taper from the valve to the intake. Put it together and enjoy it for what it is. It will be fun but never the fastest 250/350/450 on the block.