I just had Tony Mamo port my Miniram. Actually there was alot more than just porting.He epoxied and ported it. He basically re-engineered the manifold and reshaped the runners. He flowed it and it flowed 410 CFM. I have never seen a Miniram flow over 340 cfm. The guy is AMAZING! It will now keep up with the new AFR 235's. Can't wait to see how it all works out. Old combo: 450 CI, 308 cfm Miniram, 312 cfm ported AFR 220's, Crane 252/260 S.R. New combo: 450 CI, 410 cfm Miniram, AFR 235's that flow around 340, Crane 252/260 S.R.

A big thanks to Tony

Damn... 600 hp here we come!!!!!!

Pics?

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I think more then 600hp.

Jim that is some very good news my friend!

Sound like some great numbers. What did he have to epoxy on the miniram?

Matthew

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The floor of the ports and the entry.

I think Tony will chime in with some pic's.

Here you go guys.....if you want to copy my work feel free!!

This intake kicked my azzz and turned out to be far more work than I originally envisioned but Jim is about as nice a guy to work with as it gets and although the cost escalated some during the job, he was committed to letting me have at it.....and wouldnt let me cut a corner even if I wanted to.....LOL

Truth be told I was curious what I could get from this and felt with liberal use of the grinder and even more liberal use of epoxy I could perhaps give him something special. While I usually only let mid 300's leave my lips, I secretly hoped for closer to 400 (my most optimistic goal) once Jim gave me the green light on the extensive plenum reworking and runner extensions (all through many applications of epoxy obviously). That I knew would make a big difference in the outcome of this project.

The pics arent that great because the flash washes everything out and no flash is a little grainy but you certainly get the idea. I ended up providing him with tapered runners longer than stock, nice radiused corners always condusive to flow, and a nice bellmouthed radius on all the port openings best I could without removing (cutting) the actual top of the manifold off. I could just fit my arm/hand to the rear of the intake to work that section but honestly that was a big PITA and my forearms are still bruised from it....LOL

There are a few other tricks I will opt not to disclose but this is the basic premise of the work I performed. As Jim mentioned, the worst flowing port came in at 399 CFM and the best at 410, with the other six holes somewhere in the middle. I also flowed the manifold correctly, that is to have blocked every other port when I flowed each one, and of course plugging off the injector hole so no additional airflow snuck thru there. This essentially forced all the air to be pulled from the TB opening only (negotiating somewhat of a 90' bend into each port) just as it would on an actual running engine. This reduced flow per cylinder by about 15 CFM btw and provided us with more real world results.

A shot of the first operation.....the major metal removal in the roof and sides of the port....the opposite side (the floor) needed epoxy added to achieve the correct height and radiused corners. Left port has roof reworked obviously.....right side as delivered from Jim with a little clean up work already performed

[IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn283/Flowizard/Thebeforeshot-rightside.jpg[/IMG]


And here is the left side....both of the "before" shots I had already roughed in the sides (getting them close to net). I should have taken some virgin pics but didnt think to start snapping away till I was covered pretty well in aluminum chips....LOL I guess most of you guys already know how small the ports are out of the box. This was either a 1204 or a 1205 Miniram btw (now its a 1206 Mamo-Ram

[IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn283/Flowizard/Theaftershot-leftside.jpg[/IMG]

Here is a shot of a finished pair of roof and sides.....the other side needing to be shrunk with epoxy before all the smoke clears

[IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn283/Flowizard/Finishedroofcombo.jpg[/IMG]

Some pics of the finished port outlets complete with the epoxy and all the trimmings....

[IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn283/Flowizard/Intake.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn283/Flowizard/Intake2.jpg[/IMG]

And a shot of the plenum....some skunkworks in this area so only one shot of this work.....generous use of properly shaped epoxy the name of the game here.

[IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn283/Flowizard/Plenum-1.jpg[/IMG]

Thats about it guys....

Price to do another?

Well.....if you have to ask

Even if one of you offered me the [I]right[/I] money to do this job, I wouldnt/couldn't take it on right now. I'm actually buried in a couple of engine builds anyway but even if I was twiddling my thumbs, I just couldnt bring myself to start another....not till this one is a distant memory at least.....then I might be stupid enough to say yes again! Also, I would like to see how Jim's new combo works out. If it goes as well as I think I may have to raise prices....LOL

Thanks guys,
Tony

Looks good, but I'm still a little confused as the what the epoxy actually does (or rather, why it's needed). Can you explain it a little better?

Matthew

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It adds material where there was none. Either because it wasn't there "as cast" or possibly to re-establish a shape that was altered and worked better as it was.

RACE ON!!!

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I'm sure my project wasn't 1% the work of your, but I know how you feel. That is a great post with a lot of detail. Thanks from me and I'm sure all those with Mini Rams will be inspired to create Mamo Rams. Great name!

I'm looking forward to watching it run.

RACE ON!!!

Tony - Looks AWESOME!

What epoxy did you use? I would have used something like JB Weld, for heat resistance, but I don't know how workable that is for griding and stuff.

I have a couple of tricks for taking pictures of ports... the bigger problem is depth of field. The port fades away and causes part to be in focus and others to be blurry. Kinda annoying, really. I find that if you have a bright light in the back ground, let it light up the port from behind, is your best bet.

Now, I know that is hard on the inside of the plenum, but you can still light up the runners and let them light up the inside of the plenum. Use a long exposure and fast f-stop and the depth of field goes away. It just requires a camera that allows you to make those settings.

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It allows me to completely reshape the ports and entrance to the ports...essentially re-designing and improving on whats already there.

Everyone assumes removing material is always the answer to more flow while if you look at the Eliminator SBC product line, I spent more time adding material to the right places (changing and ultimately improving the shape for more airflow). The major side benefit of a smaller port that flows more is a higher velocity charge for better cylinder fill (and more efficiency) and alot of you guys miss that or casually dismiss it when it comes to cylinder head discussions (and I have somewhat given up preaching it in some respects because Im convinced some people just dont want to get it....LOL).

Once I have a proven prototype with the added material we cast a port around that new shape allowing us to CNC port a final part for all of you guys to benefit from. A ported stock head can never be made as good as a truly efficient, well thought out clean sheet design UNLESS you were to add material to the stock port (in all the righ places) via epoxy or welding which is time and cost prohibitive , not to mention not as reliable.

Not much different on this manifold....I used epoxy to change and improve the shapes and contours of the runners and their critical entrances (where alot of flow can be found) taking a decent part out of the box and making it better and much more efficient. If I was in the manifold business we could take a splash or have all my changes digitized/X-rayed and than make a better as cast part from that data but then I would have to pry it from Jim's hands not to mention that right now we arent quite in the manifold business.....but we are getting there

Cheers,
Tony

d@mn

I should have you port my spare LT1 intake to match those AFR195's you sold me.

I just received the Mamo-Ram. There is definately some trick stuff here. It looks like a machine did the work. It's perfect. Can't wait to try it out.

Thanks Tony!

Mamoram...now that is funny!

Shit, my plenum could fit through that throttle body opening in your plenum. It might even fit down into one of the runners!

By looking at your times with the old setup, you are heading for the 8's!

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Thanks. The thing is the faster you go the harder it becomes to go faster. Realistically, if I could shave 2-3 tenths off I would be happy. We'll have to see, I always think conservitive when it comes to numbers.