Wet-Flow Development

While rarely spoken about, AFR’s involvement in wet flow R&D stems back to a time when most of our competitors weren’t even in business. Ken Sperling, AFR’s founder, pioneered this study in the 1970’s and a portion of our design parameters still date back to what was learned 30+ years ago. The hard truth is that wet flow is just a small piece of the puzzle. If something has good wet flow (whatever that theoretically might be) but it doesn’t move any air, a big piece of the puzzle is missing. The key is understanding that dry flow cannot be compromised; remember there are thirteen parts air to one part fuel. There is no replacement for airflow which is the largest limiting factor in how much torque and horsepower an engine is capable of producing. We have tested our heads against some popular brands promoting wet-flow and our independent dyno results have confirmed and proved once again that more air (higher dry flow figures) generates higher power when the proper design principles are in place. Efficient, high airspeed port designs tend to take care of the fuel atomization all by themselves. Add more fuel to the extra air they are moving and the end result is more power. We know swirl, tumble, and wet flow are part of the equation but not the whole picture; so we use all these elements to design balanced ports here at AFR. The bottom line is if two heads have similar runner volume and cross section and one flows substantially more air on a flow bench than the other it will make more power every time!