And here is the issue. You pay a 100% price for the CNC work and it's 95% (most time LESS than that). What Pittsburgh is seeing is exactly what I see.
Hell yes, if I could afford a CNC I would use it in a nanosecond. But I would FINISH the heads BEFORE they left me and not lie to the customer and tell him not to touch the ports.
I did read the interview with Larry Meaux (link is posted somewhere in the thread) and I have had 2 phone calls with him on surface finish. He said in the interview he has not done an A-B-A test on his finish. IIRC the interview is about 5 years old ands since then he has done SOME testing, but, IMHO, if he does not port at least 9 intakes to test, you really can't A-B-A them correctly.
I have tried to simulate (as close as possible) his finish and don't get the results he is seeing. Probably 5-6 reasons for that.
That's why you should find a head guy you can get along with, and do what he says.
CNC machines are nothing but computerized RE-production machines. As long as you understand a CNC finished head is still not finished, you'll be ok. You have a set of heads that have not reached their potential, but, by gar, they are CNC'd.
Continuing from the last post, this is my point. CNC, like much modern technology, is for freeing up men from the drudge of mindless repetitive labor. They're like illegals, without the drunk uninsured driving and knife fights in bars.
People run their gums about CNC stuff in their car because for most people it's not about the racing, it's about the jaw jacking.
Like I said, if a hand porter is doing 100% work for 100% cost, and the CNC guy is doing 90-95% work for 100% cost then the hand porter should be charging more, and he's a dope if he's not and making the fact that his stuff is better well known.
IMO, the "proper" place for CNC in racing (as opposed to bracket) is for doing billet heads and cutting full ports and chambers in unfinished castings (edelbrock pro-ports and the like). In addition to doing all the prep porting for the hand finishing.
And then there's stuff like TFS is doing with heads being designed for and finished on CNC, giving better performance at lower cost than doing the full Monte with aftermarket porting. S/F.....Ken M
