BEASTZ6

Don't worry guys. Tony will get back to work on his big inch small block, as well as build mine, which will be a sister engine to his.

jetboat

Im in to NA want to see what you get be for I die

Tony Mamo @ AFR

iTrader: (13)

That's the understatement right there and people that know me personally understand (and joke occasionally) about my life.

I have essentially two full time jobs.....designing product and handling most of the R&D at AFR (45-50 hours a week) and my home "specialty" business where I invest almost the same amount of time porting heads, intakes, and a handful of highly detailed complete engine builds along the way. Lately the paperwork/business side of my home gig has also become somewhat overwhelming. Finding the time required to work on my personal stuff is becoming more difficult with each passing year but trust me no one wants to feel the raw in your face torque and power this engine will produce as much as me. Unfortunately lately life just gets in the way and its constantly about compromises to my personal goals and deadlines.

Look its certainly a "quality problem" and I feel blessed to have earned it, and truthfully (unless I win lotto) I would do the same if I had a chance to do it all over, but in response to the few guys that have belly ached already (and the others thinking about it), I would ask you to walk a mile in my shoes....it would be clear before you made it around the block the reasons why these projects take as long as they do, my **** detail oriented approach adding even more fuel to the fire.....LOL

Here....allow me



Alright guys....thats it for now. Try to hang in there....I suspect it will be worth it

Regards,
Tony


PS....Have I mentioned the time I invest responding to emails and PM's every day!....LOL

Tainted

iTrader: (9)

Tony I know ive PMd you about all kinds of head questions before, and I thank you for taking time to answer them

02SOMLS1WS6

The guys wanting to see the finished project wont want to hear this, but I soon hope to get a hold of you and get some of your skills and touches put on my engine. I really want to get a good set of heads to go with my system, but first I need to decide if I am going to forge the bottom end or just scrap that and go with a new short block all together. I hope to be in touch sooner than later which will only make you side track your own personal projects longer

Do you happen to build complete long blocks too or just head and intake work?

Tony Mamo @ AFR

iTrader: (13)

Honestly 85% of the real hard work nitty griity stuff in developing/blueprinting a high performance engine is in the shortblock....from the parts you select to the critical clearances you achieve (most of them you actually have your hand in), the shortblock assembly takes a ton of time and patience and alot of times requires the crank to be installed and removed a dozen times or more....hell my personal 454 was a nightmare....the crank wouldn't even spin when I installed it in the block the first time....NOT a good sign. A few weeks and a few dozen installs later adjusting the thrust clearance and staggering bearing thickness to get rid of some of the taper in the line hone (it wasn't done straight), the crank spun like butter but I kid you not it was in and out of my shortblock at least two dozen times....hell now that I'm really thinking about it maybe more.

But Im off on a tangent as I sometimes do....the bottom line is I wouldn't just build a longblock because at that point the money I would need to charge would be just shy of a complete engine anyway. The rest of the assembly is cake in comparison. Im really not the guy you go to regarding engine assembly unless your fortunate enough to have some money saved and attack this hobby with a "quality is more important than price" mentality. I would say this though....if you get aggressive chasing "price" and have the misfortune of a serious failure of some sort that "less expensive" engine just got a whole lot more expensive and the extra money you would have invested with me is starting to look like a bargain....LOL (I might be a little pricey but I'm not nearly as expensive as doing it twice!)

Its just incredibly time consuming to really build one right and from a business standpoint you have to get the appropriate dollars for the time/risk invested. I would guesstimate I invest on average of 100+ hours in any complete engine build and that might be light when I figure out how much time I spend sourcing all the parts....machine shop trips, checking all the machine work....blah blah blah.

Not to mention till that engine has a good showing on the engine dyno and puts up the number with perfect oil pressure and no funny noises or leaks I own any problem associated with it....and that's a fair amount of risk (no matter how good you are parts can just fail....even new parts...the better you are the less risk you have but your always exposed). And to really lay my cards on the table, if we are just talking dollars and sense, I still make significantly more per hour porting and dont have a tenth of the risk I do with a complete engine build (whether its for me or a client/customer)....but porting is an absolute bore in comparison....while its still "art" and an obvious craft, its just not as rewarding and exciting as building an engine and seeing it fire to life and run like a scalded dog to redline for the first time on the dyno.

"Dyno days" for me are still the best days on this planet (ask a few of the folks that have accompanied me to see the birth of their new engine!)....its an extremely exciting day (perhaps the financial risk increases the pucker factor and adds to the fun....LOL). And this is after dozens of engines I have built and dyno'ed.....its always just as exciting as my first experience in most respects which is still embedded in my brain like it were yesterday....not 20 ish years ago.

Guys, regarding engine work, PM me if your interested if you think your a good fit for my program but much like the porting work I do I cater to the guys that are really fussy about their stuff. I'm not into volume, figuring out where I can cut corners and low pricing....there are a ton of other guys that handle that....I'm into optimizing and building some really neat packages and combinations....that's what keeps it exciting for me and I enjoy when the people I help are thrilled with the results....its a good feeling.

Vader just flipped me the bird btw....

(Something about ditching the keyboard for a grinder and a torque wrench....LOL)

Later,
Tony

LS1-450

iTrader: (33)

A year without an update? On permanent hold?

Tony Mamo @ AFR

iTrader: (13)

You might call it that....too many projects....to many "jobs" to help you guys get your slice of automotive performance nirvana.....my stuff always gets back-burnered.....its the nature of the beast for the time being. Frustrating for you reading my thread and waiting for the actual real world results.....bonus for the guy who's heads I'm grinding on or manifold Im whittling on or who's combination Im designing, engine I'm building....etc, etc.

The little personal time I invested in the last 12-18 months or so was put towards the 2009 CTS-V I picked up (great car btw).....did a baby cam (218 @ .050), ported OEM head build with the stock blower (unported for now) and pullies/exhaust and she currently sits around 675/675 to the ground.....600 as early as 2800 RPM's....its pretty impressive and the car is a hoot to drive for a big comfy great handling cruiser.....still knocks down 20 MPG on long freeway drive at what I expect is close to 800 crank HP.

Vader will live again however....Im working on a design project for AFR that I may donate my shortblock for as an R&D piece when the smoke clears which it seems at this point is all I have currently used it for (Vette still in pieces obviously). While I don't know when it will actually be propelling me down the road, I know when that day comes I will likely say it was worth the wait, as painful as the wait obviously was....Im so busy of late a year feels like three months anyway.

Honestly Im more sorry I couldn't get her running for you guys (who have followed the thread with interest) than myself....would have loved to see the curve at the rear wheels and a mid 130 trap speed in the Vette.



Regards,
Tony

SpiceRedLS2GTO

iTrader: (5)

Approaching another year..

RezinTexas

paging Tony....

How are things?

1FastBrick

iTrader: (16)

Since Tony started his own venture, it would be interesting to see if this is still on his list...

https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...well-note.html

LS1-450

iTrader: (33)

He noted that Darth is likely to see his new LS7 heads in 2015. We will see.

A.R. Shale Targa

iTrader: (2)

Did someone say " paralysis by analysis " ??
If only Tony could find the proverbial " round-tuit " we could then see ET slips of a driven to the track C5 running nines @ a buck thirty five. I mean who really has any interest in that...???...

Pumba

I assume that all of you know that Tony recently left Air Flow Research after 14 years there. He has started his own business - Mamo Motorsports.

I am sure that he is very busy trying to make a living!

Tony @ Mamo Motorsports

It will happen....

What wont (unfortunately) is actually installing the engine in my C5.....I just wont have time to put the car back together with my business venture sucking every waking minute of my life the next couple of years (the car is completely taken apart....roll cage half installed....wide body kit panels that need to be installed.....its not just dropping in an engine).

I may even sell the engine after dyno testing it with the LS7 combination (which will have a smaller cam than the cathedral combo)....maybe one of you guys can prove that it has the right stuff.....LOL

I know this....the same dyno I plan to make 700+ had my 383 at 615 HP propel the car to 129-130 traps in crappy So Cal air (not Englishtown at minus 1500 DA).

I need to post some pics of my CTSV project which got the bulk of the little bit of personal time I had to invest in the last 18 months or so. Car looks and runs awesome now....still have a few upgrades to make but its a sharp looking sedan that runs hard and drives like I bought it off the showroom floor. I did alot of tasteful modifications to the car that look so right you almost dont even notice them. I spent months on fabricating a much larger Xenon projector in the car with higher wattage bulb and quality ballast. The light output and "cut" from the aftermarket quality projector is insane....crazy light to see the road 100's of yards out and no blinding oncoming traffic....I have to post a few pics of this....its really cool if you treat lighting the same as horsepower and can never have enough. Its a safety thing for me....a car that can cruise at 140 with so little drama needs insane light output for any margin of safety.

Anyway.....getting derailed here....I promise Vader will come back to life again in 2015....bigger and badder than ever. Finding time to put the Vette back together is another topic entirely.

The flipside of that for you guys is a line of heads from me that are going to rock....both cathedral and high port stuff like the LS7.

I will be dyno testing my new MMS 220 cathedral head on a 346 soon hoping to see close to 575 HP (at the crank) with a cam that has a 220's intake lobe and doesn't require flycutting....that's a serious number for a mild cam combination. I may sell an entire package that mimics this combination if the dyno results are inline with what I'm hoping to see.

I have alot of things in the works for 2015.....unfortunately not alot of time for my personal toys however....and I thank God that I got the V back together prior to my transition from AFR....its an awesome car to take a long spirited drive in to remember the reason Im still so passionate about this industry.

Cheers,
Tony

ringram

Any LS3/L76 plans? Or a small bore LS7 type head?

Ill be looking in a year or so

xenergyx

iTrader: (3)

Where the hell you guys get all the money to do this stuff lol

Tuskyz28

Obviously.... Some of us have good paying jobs. Btw, Tony I'll be paying very close attention to your rectangle headed motors.

dr_whigham

iTrader: (49)

I'd love to know more about these cathedral 220's... Valve angle, head casting...

Tony @ Mamo Motorsports

Yes....I am just wrapping up the final design of the LS3 head that AFR will launch in the next 8-12 months I would guess. I will private label some slight alterations to that line-up after its released....offering my Mamofied versions and the out of the box versions as well so I will have an LS3 style line up to offer you guys.

And I will be offering a small bore version of the LS7 head....the smallest head will be targeting 4" bore LS2 based engines (364 CID or larger) and I will offer at least three variants of that head.



Im 52.....been working two jobs practically all my life....Im a workaholic plain and simple (driven by the money needed to fund the toys....LOL). Now I have a few and no time to finish and enjoy them. Its life's irony.....hopefully down the road after getting this business in full swing and surrounding myself with help that is just as passionate as I am I may get some time to smell the roses as they say but that's years away and nothing is guaranteed no matter how hard you work.

Trying to enjoy the ride....that's all you can really do. Thankfully I genuinely enjoy helping others make power and get excited when I hear about their results. I'm also thankful to have a "job" I'm so passionate about.....helps tremendously without a doubt.



The 220 is going to kick azz....it will be my go to head for every 346 combination....should flow around 320 out of the box.....even more Mamofied for the guys that want every last bit. Its a head I know will be capable of 500 RWHP with the right set-up but still be explosive at the same time and make big torque. Even smaller cammed combos will make some steam though.....thats what Im likely to feature on the engine dyno shortly after getting this program off the ground.

If you have an interest let me know....out of the box it will only be around $100 more than a production AFR piece and it will be an AFR casting and still be covered by AFR's lifetime warranty.

I'm also designing a 235 and a 255 (which secretly already exists) for the larger displacement builds. Lots of stuff happening....most of which I expect to launch the first quarter of 2015 but will be taking small deposits for folks looking to see something sooner than later right after the New Year.

Good stuff....

-Tony