What Makes AFR Special

While Airflow Research has a great history of success in racing, it has been their ability to bring sophisticated porting technology to their wide assortment of cylinder heads that makes them truly special. Airflow Research pioneered the tooling and machinery necessary for true 5-axis CNC port machining, which allows total flow consistency from head to head once the optimal port design has been established. No other manufacturer incorporates this complete machining technology into their cylinder heads.

Cylinder head technology starts with research. That includes hundreds of hours designing and hand porting intake and exhaust ports to experiment and compare flow and horsepower characteristics. Airflow Research has tested thousands of cylinder heads over the years, for every application from top fuel dragsters to Saturday night street rods. Understanding the application and performance requirements is where AFR starts its design criteria.

To accurately evaluate port designs, AFR spends thousands of hours on engine dynos and flow rates are all compared to determine the optimal port design for specific applications. Testing does not stop in the lab though; AFR has spent more than their share of time at drag strips and circle tracks to carefully measure performance results.

Air Flow Research uses the latest in metrology technology to bring you the finest cylinder heads available today. During the manufacturing process, cylinder head castings are mounted in the machining centers and then searched for and located using optical work coordinate probing systems. This insures the most accurate location possible to begin the machining process. This eliminates the "stacked tolerance/human error" from the equation when loading and unloading cylinder heads at each work station.

AFR uses state of the art metrology such as Browne & Sharp’s Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM). First and last articles are checked on all new set ups and breakdowns to ensure quality. We also use air gauges to hold tight tolerances on all boring and honing operations, measuring down to the tenths. Additionally, we practice in process lean principles throughout the facility to create a culture of each employee being responsible for his/her work, not just passing their work to the next department with little or no accountability. As well, we inspect all components we receive from vendors to complete the quality control loop. Lastly, there is a complete documentation with SPA reports on all inspection processes.

Airflow Research consistently out-flows and out-powers the competition! And that's not just us talking - check out our website and read what the magazines have to say about AFR heads. Our flow rates surpass the competition - not just at maximum lift but especially at the critical .400"-.600" valve lift curve where so much of valve time is spent. What that means is more power from your engine at the track or on the streets. That's AFR power!