221 Argentina Head
The 221 engine was a motor which was never produced in the states. It was used on the Ford Falcons and produced in the Ford Argentina plant. What made this motor special was it's cylinder head. Unlike our US counterpart this head had a removeable intake manifold which accepted the Ford 2V carb (2100 Autolite) or the standard Holley 2V flange. This was known as the 221 SP head.
Later on this cylinder head was redesigned with better combustion chambers and relocated spark plug to increase the burn pattern and was known as the Max Econo (ME) head. These also had better intake ports out of the box than the SP head and had a different yet dettachable intake manifold. The ME intake used a Weber Solex carb pattern. The SP intake can supposedly be fitted to the ME head with minimal work however.
Here are some pictures of the ME head that I'm shipping up from Buenos Aires. Note the shape of the combustion chambers. Unlike the simple "Lo-Po" wedge design on the US heads the Max Econo recieved "heart" shaped chambers and a relocated spark plug to direct the spark at the intake valve. These two design modifications should greatly decrease the Falcon motor's tendancy to detonate when run on compression at and above 10:1 or with too much timing. Mileage, driveablility, and performance should all benefit.
The stock US exhaust manifold is a large bottleneck if performance is desired. Nothing other than the single outlet design was used from 1960 all the way to 1983 for the entire life of the Falcon engine. With the addition of the 250 engine in '69 a larger higher volume manifold was used but it was still a poor choice for getting this engine to breath properly. On the other side of the world Ford Argentina used factory long tube headers on all the 221 SP heads and in the mid '70 when the Max Econo was developed, dual outlet cast iron shorty headers were utilized. The 221 ME was still made in Argentina up until the mid-90's and these shorty headers provided excellent breathing, good clearance, and will give my project a very classic look.
The exhaust ports are also unique. The US and Aussie versions of the 200 and 250 cylinder head have exhaust ports that extend out from the head about two inches and turn down to a flange at about 130 degrees to the deck. These have proved to be dificult to port and achieve better flow from. However, you can see that the 221 head has a flange completely perpendicular to the deck so reaching in to the pocket with the die grinder is much easier. Another major benfit is that the number three and number four ports on the exhaust are seperated from each other unlike the simaese port that the US and AU heads utilize.
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