Hi folks, I've got a set of Bulldogs from the last/final run. Gessler cleaned them up with a lot of cussin' about the quality, though he didn't mind the easy clean up on the intake side. The exhaust side was another matter that we won't get into. Anyway, I assume that the plug of choice (uses a gaskete) is the NGK-FR5? Street car, about 500 h.p. Thanks! Ranger Aiken, S.C.
That is the plug I use in my TA Stage1SE heads. Flat gasket seat, projected nose. Alan Wander also uses them in Big Red. I like them alot.
Those are the plugs we use in our "Dogs",same issues flowing them too,intake was great at 350+ but took a lot of work to get the exhaust over 230. gary
while we're discussing the 'dogs, who's running roller rockers with them? the roller tips on mine don't center on the valves. anyone else have this problem? should I move the shims around and run one side of the roller bearing w/o the shim?
Yes, well, while we're on the subject, let's "milk" it. Greg said that one of my Bulldogs did not have the rocker holes drilled to the correct depth. He corrected this, of course. The fact that he even noticed/checked this is a credit to his perfectionism. It would not have been a problem for me, as I am going to use rocker studs, but anybody using bolts would have bottemed them out too soon, causing excessive clearance. In some regards, I wish I had waited for the Edels, but at the time I ordered them, the Edels were just a rumor. Of course, the Edels take more work to flow equally on the intake, but I think the exhaust is about the same. This is unfortunate, as the Bulldogs have a bigger, yet poorly placed, exhaust valve. I had Greg enlarge the oil-drain holes, as this was an issue, as well. Someone mentioned, in a previous Bulldog thread, about experiencing the pushrods rubbing the heads, and having to enlarge the pushrod holes. Anyone experience this? Jim Burek said, when they first came out, that he preferred the "more-modern design" of the combustion chamber--less detonation prone. So, I hope that I traded "marginal" finish quality for some other advantages. Maybe the fact that we have to use the intake-manifold spacers will give us a more "direct shot" into the intake port, perhaps similar to TA's "tall port" concept, which requires a different intake, if I'm not mistaken. All input is welcome. Regards, Ranger Aiken, SC
Plugs wise I use the NGK racing series with a -7 heat range with my combo. The FR-5 were too hot. For perfect roller rocker alignment of your roller rockers, T/ A sells roller rocker shims but you have to narrow the spacer tubes or you can use the correct T/A Stage 3 head rocker arms with the wide tip roller rocker that they sell for T/A options larger exhaust valves. I had issue with the T/A roller Rockers that needed to be clearanced to clear the one piece 3/8 Comp Cams pushrods. Never needed to touch the pushrod holes. One of the most important parameters for engine performance potential is intake flow. Has anyone really verified through wet flow testing that the Bulldog exhaust is postioned incorrectly or is this a theory and opinion? From the real world results a lot of Bulldog head cars are running great ET's in their combinations. For a street car, testimonial look at the May 2008 Pop Hot Rodding article on Larry Bell's 10 sec 455 Bulldog Head with a mild 231/239 cam running into 10's with 3.42 gears. Maybe we are on the best kept secret. Tom
I bought a set of "dogs" from Greatscat last year and am just now thinking about putting them on. Thanks for the heads up on potential problems/advantages. Mike D.
