Drag Illustrated Issue 151, December 2019 | Page 64
DI TECH
CREATING A MONSTER
FRANKENSTEIN ENGINE DYNAMICS’ P-48 HEMI HEADS
T
HE HEMI ENGINE PLATFORM HAS
been the go-to drag racing engine for
almost 70 years. Developing it further
began not long after its introduction
when someone wanted “a little more” from it.
Today, racers want “a lot more” from their Hemis
and with heads being the best place to create
more power, they are the logical target. Still, it
surprised the industry when someone went all
out on reworking the famous Hemi heads. And
we mean, “all out.”
Frankenstein Engine Dynamics is that some-
one and their new P-48 Hemi Heads are the re-
sults. Based on the 4.800” bore spacing of the
Hemi platform that has not changed in years,
they decided it was, “Time for a big remake,” and
went total blank paper design. They began with
research that included other forms of racing, in-
cluding different classes of drag racing and even
road racing. They also looked at what made things
work for the best big- and small-block head de-
signs. Their goals were simple: they wanted more
efficient ways for moving air into and out of the
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heads. Ideally, any great improvements in the
new heads would allow other Hemi architecture
to take advantage of those benefits.
Creating a new head is not just about add-
ing more airflow. Yes, more airflow equals more
horsepower. But why? And how do you achieve
this? It’s not in flow numbers, CFD analysis, or
dyno testing alone. Making big changes starts
with a common sense thought process, funda-
mental cylinder head practices and implementing
years of experience across every form of motors-
ports imaginable. Other forms of testing are used
to validate or fine tune areas to improve or to
validate the end-result of on-track performance.
Typically, heads go from design to metal, primary
and secondary machining to the flow bench, then
to the engine dyno and chassis dyno before finally
hitting the track.
One of the first improvements Frankenstein
wanted to incorporate was raising the intake and
exhaust runners, but they ran into limitations
with sanctioning body rules. They also had to deal
with the physics of any new head being compat-
ible with existing intakes, exhaust, valve covers
and other engine components. Specifically, the
new heads would also need to work with today’s
popular BAE, AJPE, CN and other 4.800” blocks.
6061-T6 Billet Aluminum was chosen for its
strength and the ability of the head to heat and
cool at consistent rates. 6061-T6 is also favored
for its repairability, adding long-term value to
the heads. The “box” of what the new head would
be was starting to take shape. Within that “box,”
Issue 151