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Sun Aug 24, 2014 11:48 am

I see a lot regarding what heads to use, the many different
types, brands, recommended modified heads from after
market shops, but I was wondering if any here had ever
used Arao Eng 16 valve heads ? Granted they ARE
pretty darn expensive, but appear to be well made
or are they just another gimmick ?

http://www.araoengineering.com/vwheads.htm

Sun Aug 24, 2014 12:05 pm

Those rockers look like a Nightmare! Must be a better way to get more flow than that on a vw engine. Why not just do it the way Porsche did.
Here is what Subaru is doing: http://drive2.subaru.com/Win11/itsWhatMakes.htm

Porsche 911 16 Valve:

Sun Aug 24, 2014 12:06 pm

Looks a bit unfinished, but there is considerable merit to the idea.
It would be interesting to see how they solved the intake routing and cooling paths.
Angle between valves is nonexistent or very small which may be a bad idea, but perhaps it was necessary due to something else.

Sun Aug 24, 2014 12:12 pm

I worked for arao for three years in the early 90's. The 16v VW head had not been done yet. At the time the 32 valve V8 stuff was on the agenda and still is. I mostly built VW engines at the time and worked on cars for Russel Who is a good guy. The VW head has a unique relay rocker design. We still talk and are friends. Unfortunately his Dad passed away recently and lost his engineering input but Russel is more than capable of being innovative.

Dan

Sun Aug 24, 2014 3:02 pm

Danwvw wrote: Those rockers look like a Nightmare! Must be a better way to get more flow than that on a vw engine. Why not just do it the way Porsche did.
Here is what Subaru is doing: http://drive2.subaru.com/Win11/itsWhatMakes.htm

Porsche 911 16 Valve:

That is a 911 12 valve 2 per head design. Excellent layout for it's cooling capacity

Mon Aug 25, 2014 3:16 am

note the new exhaust vs old on the subaru engine, could this be applied to us do you think?

EJ is OLD
FB is NEW

Mon Aug 25, 2014 3:26 am

Danwvw wrote: Those rockers look like a Nightmare!
Stock clipon shafts??

Saw it at the 2006 Classic

Mon Aug 25, 2014 9:24 am

Glenn, the upper rocker has no pushrod pushing the rocker sideways. the stock clips work fine.

Dan

Mon Aug 25, 2014 1:39 pm

Arao is hated in the ford and chevy circles, making promises he can't deliver on, taking deposits for heads years down the line still unbuilt and will likely never be built.... it would be cheaper in the long run to develop your own set of heads when calculating deposits and court costs lol :lol:

Mon Aug 25, 2014 2:05 pm

I think they should of oppted for 2 intake valves up top & 2 exhaust valves on the bottom, or even just 1 exhaust. or 3 intakes&2 exhaust.it's realy not all that hard at all.

Mon Aug 25, 2014 2:32 pm

Looks like some hillbilly home brewed hunk of junk and the rocker arm concoctions just don't pass the smell test for me. I would not buy them.

Mon Aug 25, 2014 2:36 pm

VWporscheGT3 wrote: Arao is hated in the ford and chevy circles, making promises he can't deliver on, taking deposits for heads years down the line still unbuilt and will likely never be built.... it would be cheaper in the long run to develop your own set of heads when calculating deposits and court costs lol :lol:

I've read quite a few comments like this. Guys are out thousands of dollars. Looks like a good shop to avoid. Cool concept though.

brad

Mon Aug 25, 2014 2:36 pm

I've always thought a three valve would be the way to go. 2 intakes up top, using the intake port flange from a type 4 (manifolds readily available). One exhaust plumbed out the sides so a normal header can be used, or out the bottom again and utilize another type 4 part.
I have no clue how to solve the rocker arm issue :lol:

Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:13 pm

I saw a top fuel drag car years ago that had heads that had no valves at all, it had dual over head cams that had square holes machined in them and they would turn and when the holes lined up it would complete the port, nothing in the way. I think it was in Australia or New Zealand. Its kind of hard to describe. This was in the late 70's or early 80's
They were making 5000hp when Hemi's here were making 4500hp, It wasn't NHRA legal so I do think the went too far with it.

Casey

Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:22 pm

I still think it would be need to do a single overhead cam per head and run them a'la timing belt off the pulley end of the crankshaft... but, it would all be a hackery...

Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:38 pm

I called Russ today and the phone was dead. Had to go into the valley today for other stuff so I decided to stop by his shop to see what's up and all is gone done and over. Sad to see as he has been there for over thirty years.

Dan

Sat Oct 19, 2019 10:00 pm

Does anybody have these arao heads laying around ..just curious how the intake port looks like and works 🤔🤔🤔

Sun Oct 20, 2019 6:09 am

Why not just make a head with electric control valves? No cam,lifters,pushrods,rockers needed. 8)

Sun Oct 20, 2019 7:14 pm

or air controled, or rotery valves, or.....hell just make it a dfi 2 stroke with reeds and super or hair dryer or both to force feed it & suck out the exhaust!!!

Sun Oct 20, 2019 7:47 pm

[email protected] wrote: Does anybody have these arao heads laying around ..just curious how the intake port looks like and works 🤔🤔🤔

I looked over an ARAO headed T1 engine at the VW Classic over 10yrs ago. I think 'Searoy' Jenkins owned it for a short time. Tom Lieb (Scat) told me he wound up purchasing the engine shortly thereafter.

I saw another set on a very unusual if not innovative hot street VW in Las Vegas at a Saturday night (before the October VW Bog-o-Rama promotions race) car show, at the host hotel. I later saw some pictures taken that evening of that same car in hotVW's Magazine, circa 2010 maybe? supercharged or turbocharged, with A frame shaped charge pipes, that included several polished copper tubes, that aced as a sort of intercooler.