so where would this squish area be? I thought you just pointed the open side of the plug twords the center of the engine.

 

Close up of a head:



The "squish area" or "quench area" is opposite the spark plug hole. It's the pointy part of the cylinder head that would still be in the round combustion chamber (the part to the left of the "wrinkle" in the kidney) that pushes the gases toward the spark plug when the piston compresses the gases upward.

Remember that the piston is round, but the top of the cylinder isn't because of the way the cylinder head is cut. So that pointy part has only the thickness of the head gasket between the piston and the cylinder head, while there is more room in the dark parts near the valves, the gases are shoved toward the spark plug.

BTW, you could switch to thinner head gaskets to increase the compression ratio, but you really should have a tune to compensate for doing that. Depending on the thickness, you might also need shorter push rods.

 

I think Hank got tired of being flamed by people that weren't into theory of aerodynamics, mechanical energy conversions and such. It's almost like trying to discuss the theory of relativity with Einstein, with a high school physics knowledge level. Some of his stuff was really great and a really great read, but to put it into practicle use, such as the air vanes attached to the body of your truck to reduce aero drag, while great in theory, would make your truck look rather strange at best.

I think Hank's in depth knowledge was AMAZING!!! Don't see him here anymore, but wish He'd come back.

 

I remember reading some of his posts back in the day, but i was never on enough to actually talk to him.

Sucks though because there are very few members left on here that have that much experience.