The intake runners are evenly spaced to improve port-to-port consistency, and Roland Racing is the only company offering a compatible intake manifold. The CV-1 is an aluminum single-plane casting that's available with a traditional square-bore carburetor flange, or a Dominator-style, and future plans are said to include a dual-quad/EFI casting. Valve cover options are limited to CV-1-specific units from Strelka Built, or owners can modify Moroso's Ford Cleveland units.
Roland Racing's Radical Replacement
Jim Sammons opened Roland Racing in Springfield, Missouri, just a couple of years ago, but that doesn't mean he's a beginner. Sammons' previous career was designing valvetrain components for overhead valve engines. He was employed by a major manufacturing company that continues to supply General Motors and Ford today, and his enthusiasm for the Pontiac V-8 led to the development of a canted-valve cylinder head for that application.
"I wanted to create an out-of-box high-performance Pontiac cylinder head that's comparable to what's available for other big-block engines," says the once-Detroit-based application engineer. "I started with a clean slate and designed an entirely new casting using an automated computer program. My experience with canted valve angles led me to follow that path, and the CV-1 was developed."
Canted angles typically reduce the shrouding that otherwise occurs when valves are located too closely to a cylinder wall, and Sammons' particular design allows the use of larger valves within a traditional Pontiac bore diameter. "Combine that with a properly designed intake port that directs airflow toward the middle of the cylinder, and the performance advantages are quickly apparent," he adds.
Roland Racing developed an entirely new cylinder head for the Pontiac V-8. It features canted valve angles, yet retains a normal Pontiac camshaft layout, without the need to offset the pushrods. The casting boasts of 380-cfm intake flow, and a basic bolt-on price that starts at $2,995.
While Roland Racing offers bare castings that include valve guides and seats for $2,495, the company will soon offer a complete bolt-on package that starts at $2,995. "I wanted to keep it simple, so I sourced a lot of off-the-shelf components to maintain affordable pricing. I have, however, left lots of material around the valves, and in the ports, so engine builders can tailor the CV-1 to specific applications."
The basic CV-1 package includes 2.25/1.66-inch stainless-steel valves and, while Sammons says he doesn't plan to offer larger valve sizes, the castings can easily accommodate 2.30/1.71-inch units. "Standard valvesprings are conical, single-wire pieces designed for solid flat-tappet and hydraulic roller camshafts with lift up to 0.700-inch. The rocker studs and arms, and pushrods we suggest for either application, are mostly off-the-shelf big-block Chevy components."
Sammons says he concentrated heavily on optimizing mid-lift port efficiency (0.400- to 0.700-inch) during development, and that the CV-1 intake port measures 290 cc, and flows around 380 cfm at 0.800-inch lift, at 28 inches of pressure. He adds, "While intake port volume may seem large, the actual cross-sectional area is comparable to a 308-cc big-block Chevy head. The CV-1 requires a minimum bore diameter of 4.15 inches, and engines displacing at least 450 ci should be more than comfortable with the port volume. We expect peak power to occur around 7,000 rpm in short-stroke applications, while longer-stroke engines should pull the peak down a few hundred rpm."
The CV-1 is available with CNC-milled combustion chambers that measure 65 cc for race applications, or 90 cc for pump gas applications. The chamber's unique, dual-quench design features opposing squish pads to maximize combustion efficiency. According to Jim Sammons, peak output occurs with total spark lead in the low 30s.
While a unique intake manifold is required due to the canted valve angles, the exhaust configuration is much more conventional. "The exhaust port flows around 70 percent of the intake port, and the casting accepts a typical round-port header," he says. "We can also mill the down-turn from the exhaust runners, all the way to the water jacket face, creating a 'convertible' port for those building headers for tube-chassis or turbocharged applications."
Sammons tells HPP that he's invested more than 3,000 hours into the project, and hopes to have production units available by the time you read this. "The response so far has been incredible," he states. "We have several independent builders waiting to perform their own tests with them, and I'm confident that the horsepower and torque numbers will be comparable to those of an equal-priced big-block Chevy. I sincerely believe that the CV-1 will provide Pontiac hobbyists with a horsepower-per-dollar ratio that the Chevy crowd has enjoyed for years."