FMF PORKY HEAD

I have never seen one anodized before.

Looking closely at your picture it looks like there are pit marks in the dome. Pitting is normally due to a fragged piston ring.

Correct, neither has anyone else I've asked. And concerning the dome marks ,I agree they at first appeared to be a typical
dinged up head. But after looking very ,very closely ,we've determined those are from the porosity in the casting.You can actually see some of the same marks on the gasket surface. But ,its not important to me thats its NOS or not,since this bike is going to be ridden and raced,just Im perplexed on the anodizing. So most likely its destined to be put thru some bead-blasting, unless someone pipes up that Big D had made a limited run of these gold ones.

I can't offer much help, but I vaguely recall seeing one that color some time ago in a magazine. I know it's not much, but I'd sure want to hold off before you did something irreversible only to find out later...

Did you try MXA? I normally am not a fan, but they would have the knowledge base from that era.

omalley wrote:

I can't offer much help, but I vaguely recall seeing one that color some time ago in a magazine. I know it's not much, but I'd sure want to hold off before you did something irreversible only to find out later...

Did you try MXA? I normally am not a fan, but they would have the knowledge base from that era.

I havent tried MXA, but I did call and send messages to Sr and Jr at FMF. I figured why mess around,go right to the source,but as of yet no reply. But you are definitely right,Im hanging loose awhile until i get a definitive answer. Im really at a 50/50 on it. On one hand,id be shocked if Don Emler would try to anodize a casting,and believe me the head looks a LOT better in the pics than it does in real life. BUT... on the other hand, the head appears to have been anodized before the final machining, so..... perplexing I say

That is a for real find. I had 3 of those back in the day and they looked just like that right out of the box. I still have one in the attic right now. They did work and help reducing the engine heat.

Paw Paw

PawPaw thanks for the input. So if its a legit piece,I almost feel that I shouldnt use it for the build since its going to be a rider/racer. But finding a second one will be a severe pain in the ass Im sure

Paw Paw wrote:

That is a for real find. I had 3 of those back in the day and they looked just like that right out of the box. I still have one in the attic right now. They did work and help reducing the engine heat.

Paw Paw

Take a pic of the one you have in the attic and post it. I had the DG gold radial heads and really thought they looked cool but the FMF heads are not as nice of a finish on them. Both are some cool moto history.

I had a DG radial head also back in the day, but was an extruded item and the fins all ran in one direction.
https://books.google.com/books?id=YLL2WNfLalsC&pg=RA10-PA53&dq=DG+EXTRUDED+radial+head&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjzhZufkZzWAhVLZSYKHenfB3UQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=DG%20EXTRUDED%20radial%20head&f=false
Paw Paw

I doubt they came Anodized that way. I've never seen them gold. I also think if it was done by FMF they would have put a plug in the spark plug hole to protect the threads.

yzvet426 wrote:

I doubt they came Anodized that way. I've never seen them gold. I also think if it was done by FMF they would have put a plug in the spark plug hole to protect the threads.

Yeah I thought that too. But the fact that the mounting flats were machined after the anodizing is confusing too. Like I said stated earlier, I was racing back in the 70's when these heads were the hot set-up and never remember seeing a gold one. All the DG heads were ,but since they were made from extrusions,they accepted the anodizing much better than any cast piece. But PawPaw said a few posts back that he had a few gold Porkys and still has one, although Id love to see a pic of his to compare to mine. Damn shame the Emlers arent returning any of my inquiries, that would put this to bed real quick.

Hell, Uncle Donnie may not remember either. It was the 70's after all.

There are paints available today that look like anodizing. Can get them in spray can too. Take some laquer thinner on rag and test spot on bottom. I have 1 porky head now and sold a couple and they where all natural. It maybe possible yours is original gold but I think it probably isn't. If someone shows it in catalog I'll be a believer. Also... I think it was another company that cast these.... same head was offered by LOP and it was probably just a piece they switched in mold when making sand casting form

The finning design on the FMF head compared to the Lop, CH and Miller Mano's were quite different actually. I have seen Lop and CH heads that look almost the same as one another though. In theory some CH heads may be same as Miller Mano because CH bought out Miller Manos stock/tooling so some may be re-brands or from the same tooling there. Then there's the porky heads Al Baker was selling in 77. In the catalogue they look a little different again and seem to be his own brand/design at that time.