Port Timing and Peak RPM
Looking at a pressure trace (taken from exhaust port) it was obvious that the time it takes for the pressure to reduce to 5psi (typical transfer pressure) is .52milliseconds. So the needed blowdown degrees for the transfer port to begin to open right as the cylinder pressure is at 5psi can be calculated just from the peak RPM. Here’s how: Degrees = (.00052/(1/(RPM/60))) x 360 So an engine peaking at 8000 RPM needs 25 degrees, and one peaking at 10,000 needs 31 degrees according to this calculation. But if you’ll look at various port timings you’ll see that they don’t always allow that much blowdown degrees. In that case their peak RPM is that at which the piston has already uncovered the transfers so many degrees when the exhaust pulse has reduced to 5psi, allowing intake charge to enter the cylinder. That allows a little bit of mixing of exhaust gas with intake charge but not to a significant detrimental amount. It’s only when the end of the exhaust pulse is so late (degree wise) that it doesn’t allow enough transfer time that the RPM can’t increase more. So the engine achieves peak horsepower at a lower RPM and then it decreases as the RPM increases until there’s not enough power to increase the RPM more.
Here is a drawing showing the dynamics of an engine with less than the needed blowdown. It shows how the transfer of intake charge begins only when the cylinder pressure becomes less than 5 psi.
For example my engine with 136 exhaust duration and 99 transfer duration has only 18.5 degrees port blowdown but peaked revs at 6650. That 18.5 is 90% of the calculated needed 20.6 degrees so that the transfers are open 2.1 degrees when the cylinder pressure lowers to 5psi. So I think it’s safe to deduct that peak RPM (excluding effects of intake limitations and expansion chamber) with a straight muffled exhaust pipe is determined mostly by exhaust port timing. (An expansion chamber can make the peak RPM greater or smaller than the natural peak RPM determined by porting.) The correct exhaust port timing can be designed by adding the calculated blowdown degrees with the calculated transfer degrees. Here’s how to calculate the transfer degrees: Using my 136/99 engine I figure there’s 68 degrees from exhaust port opening to BDC. Subtracting 20.6 from that leaves 47.4 degrees. Here’where I take an educated leap of faith and figure that the true transfer time extends from when the cylinder pressure lowers to 5psi (at calculated blowdown) to later than BDC for engines with more than 5000 peak RPM. The amount of degrees after BDC is 5 degrees for every 1000 RPM over 5000. That amount is derived from seeing crankcase pressure charts indicating that delay. So my engine will have 8.2 degrees after BDC as the end of transfer time. (6650-5000) x 5 x .001 = 8.2 That added to 47.4 gives 55.6 degrees which is 1.4ms at 6650 RPM. But of course more transfer port area and more crankcase compression reduces the needed transfer time a bit. What I list here is only a general guideline. Using .52ms actual blowdown time and 1.4ms actual transfer time I came up with the exhaust port and transfer port durations of columns #1. The #1 durations are most appropriate for 6000 RPM engines. Since the piston is more rapidly compressing the crankcase at higher engine speeds then I have to revert to the old standards for transfer durations and recalculate for exhaust durations #2.
Needed #1 #1 #2 #2
Cycle exh open degrees exhaust transfer exhaust transfer
RPM period to BDC to BDC duration duration duration duration
12k 5ms 1.43ms 103.3 206.6 132 203 128
10k 6ms 1.5ms 90.0 180.0 118 178 116
8k 7.5ms 1.61ms 77.3 154.6 104 154 103
6k 10ms 1.78ms 64.1 128.2 91 128 91
For more emphasis on peak rpm power (with 10k and 12k) you can increase the transfer duration 2-4 degrees.
Since at top RPM it is the actual exhaust pulse time that controls when the transfer flow starts, and not the transfer port timing, then the obvious question is Why does a higher transfer port benefit high RPM power? Because when transfer flow starts the port is already somewhat open and the total port area is increased. Then why does a higher transfer port reduce low RPM power? Because the transfer flow finishes entering the cylinder sooner which gives it more time to loop around and exit the exhaust port at low RPM.
Keep in mind that the length of the expansion chamber mostly overrides the effect of porting for setting the peak RPM. So if raising the exhaust port for 12 more degrees duration does not cause a 1000 RPM increase then you have to shorten the header about 30mm (1.2”).
Click here to read about the effects of different exhaust port shapes.
Can too high an exhaust port be detrimental? Yes. I have done many tests with ma