KRE's High Port was designed as a high-flow replacement for stock castings. Basic bolt-on packages start at $2,400. Peak airflow measures 330 cfm in as-cast form, but optional CNC-porting programs incrementally increase that towards 400 cfm.
Kauffman Racing Equipment's High Port Hysteria
If you've read the previous installment, you're familiar with the effort that Kauffman Racing Equipment, in Glenmont, Ohio, set forth when producing its aluminum D-port cylinder head. With its relatively small as-cast intake ports, and optional porting, it serves a broad market segment, but its D-port exhaust configuration can be somewhat limiting, so KRE introduced another casting aimed at additional performance from larger displacement mills.
"Our aluminum D-port was developed to fulfill one need, and we felt there was similar need for a direct-replacement to the stock castings in larger, street and/or strip applications, so we developed our High Port cylinder head," Jeff Kauffman says. "To make installation as easy as possible, we included a standard Pontiac intake flange and round-port exhaust configuration, and pushrods that are in the stock location."
The High Port intake flange accepts any conventional Pontiac intake manifold, while its exhaust consists of a typical round-port configuration.
Bare castings include valve seats and guides, and pushrod guide plates for $1,495 per pair, but Kauffman says his bolt-on High Port packages are most popular. Prices begin at $2,400, and include 2.20/1.70-inch Ferrea 1200-series valves, 1.625-inch diameter valvesprings that are compatible with solid roller camshaft lift up to 0.750-inch, 10-degree steel valve locks, titanium retainers, and 71/416-inch ARP rocker studs.
Like the D-port, Kauffman says that port velocity was a key element of the High Port's design. "We want to produce peak torque as early as possible, and then build horsepower from that, so we designed a highly-efficient intake port." In as-cast form, its intake port measures 277 cc, and airflow peaks at 330 cfm at 0.700-inch lift, at 28 inches of pressure. "We can increase peak airflow to a maximum of 400 cfm at 0.800-inch lift, with our optional CNC-porting programs, which subsequently increase maximum port volume to 330 cc," he adds.
The fast-burn combustion chamber is CNC-machined to 56 cc, and KRE presently offers 64 and 80 cc chambers at additional cost, while future plans include a 70 to 72 cc option. Jeff Kauffman says that peak power typically occurs with 30 to 32 degrees of total spark lead.
The exhaust port flows roughly 70 percent of the intake port, and it, too, is CNC-ported to maintain said percentage as intake flow increases. "We use 2.25/1.75-inch diameter valves when additional flow is needed, and though it accepts standard rocker studs and roller rocker arms, a stud girdle or rocker shaft system is available at extra cost. A rocker shaft is, however, required with the 400-cfm casting," adds Kauffman.
Designed for a minimum bore diameter of 4.15 inches, Kauffman claims that an as-cast High Port is capable of producing 650 to 700 horsepower on a 455 with 13:1 compression and a single four-barrel carburetor. "If we push the displacement to 500ci, and add a Victor intake, we're seeing on our dyno about 750 hp at 6,400 rpm in as-cast High Port, and about 900 hp at 7,000 rpm from a 400-cfm casting."
If that weren't enough, it appears that yet another cylinder head casting is on KRE's horizon. The company is presently testing a splayed, canted-valve cylinder head, and Kauffman says he's extremely excited with the results from testing the billet-aluminum prototype. Expect additional coverage if and when the casting reaches production.