Convert hour glass shape reed to HI Oer rectangle

[Jay Smith]

A few EASY steps to convert the restrictive hour glass reed cage shape to rectangle Hi Performance..247580

[Jay Smith]

247582First bolt the stock 5 or 7 petal hour glass shaped cage to a piece of billet aluminum. I next allow the cage to fit flat and straight on the vice jaws and tighten to keep in place while milling.
I use an extended aluminum router bit to cut the cage. As you can see in the last page the router is long enough to stick through both sides of the cage partitions. This will allow BOTH partitions to be cut at the same time and have a mirror cut on either side. I set the depth of travel of the mill quill and adjust the quill stop on the mill spindel so it barely clears the bottom surface but doesn't touch the vise jaws. I next index the distance that I want the cut to travel both top and bottom and set the DRO at those number so I will have every cut and every partition the exact same. I bring the router to the top of the tear drop and touch off and make the cut towards the reed attachment screws ubtil my VRO number reaches zero and I stop, repeating on the other side. As I said this way I cut both sides at once making the job go twice as fast. You can make the new partitions a thin or as thick as you choose simply by taking a bigger cut on the sides.

Hope you enjoyed the post...

Jay

[davemvegas]

i am undesided about having you cut my 7 petal boxes.i did send you a pm asking about cost i did not hear back from you.but i read in a post from t-rex somewhere that if your not turning a 2.5 8000 rpms that it would run better with 5 petal rubber coated boxes.so my thinking now is maybe it could hurt my overall performance so i am leaning to leave them teardrop shape.i was going to assemble motor today but run into a snag and will have to ship it back to machine shop monday so i am stalled on motor for at least two weeks.any one tried stock 7 petal against opened up box and seen hp gains? my boat is a vegas my 1991 2.5 has lake cut chest and ruck cly port work,heads cut to 35cc.i have 28p small ear chopper worked by dah. when i took motor apart prop was not worked yet and it would turn 6600 rpms wot. i am hoping with the motor work and rebuild it will turn 7500 rpms even with the prop tightened up. so do i need 5 pedal,stock 7 pedal or cut 7 petal.i have already bought a set of tdr reeds but not installed them on boxes yet.

[Jay Smith]

I think you misunderstood the old man ( T-Rex ), he said if you where turning less than 8000 leave the stock 5 petal in and if you were turning more than 8000 go to the 7 petal...IMO its better to open any hour glass cage shape to rectangle...5 or 7

Jay

[Jay Smith]

247607 Before and after , fresh off mill...

Jay

[Jay Smith]

After the have been cut , I bead blast the inside with crushed glass so fuel will break up better , I spray them with machinist dye then I lap them on a honing stone until flat then attach my TDR Reed valves attaching them with screws with BLUE loctite applied...

Jay

[davemvegas]

jay my stock reeds are 7 petal and i do not intend turn over 7500 rpms. that is why i am asking if i cut boxes will that help my performance or am i better off just bolting on my tdr reeds as is. i know i am not going to swich to 5 petal. just want to know to cut boxes or not.

[Gorilla0178]

Does it help on a omc also. Is it better to leave the rubber coating onor sand it off?

[HStream1]

Great Post Jay!! And Great Pictures!!! I have cut them the same way using a carbide Roto Zip bit in my mill. I also use a spray bottle with Kerosene and mist down the cage while machineing. Kerosene is the cats Arzz when machining aluminum.

[T-REX]

I have flow'd several setz ov mercury reed cages on a flow bench to see which it tha top dog az for air flow goes...I used tha teer drop(stockies), tha HiPo ones(square cut, factory, and cut ones basically like jay juss show'd), and the new'r style rubber coated 4 peddle cages...Tha 5 peddle rubber coated and tha hipo 7 peddle cages flow close to the same in stock form...Tha 5 peddles kan be cut to flow more, but, IMO it week'nz them big time....Tha 4 peddle rubber coated replacements for tha 5 peddle cages flow thee exzact same az tha HiPo square cut 5 peddle cages...and juss az tha cut rubber cages, the cut 5 peddle cages are a lot weeker than tha stock 4 peddle cages....Ov corse, az many stock teer drop cages az are out ther, an if ya got a mill, U kan cut them faster than they break....I'm not sy'in they are fradgile az glass, juss that I have had several break, and have broken several by over tighten'in them, and a few even by not over tight'en them...

What Jay iz doin iz an easy way to step up tha "Capibility" ov a mota wit a lil mill time, and most guyz wouldn't take tha time ta show tha unknow'in how ta do it.....I'm juss thankfull he didn't include a hed shot in thoze pics!!!....Lol

Theze mota'z all react to mods in differnt ways, and sum mods are actually assistance to build'in HP, not a HP builder.....Juss like theze cages, or tha swap out for tha larger 4 peddles...They don't actually step up tha air/fuel flow, But they ALLOW sum more air/fuel flow if tha mota wants it!!....In my exsperience most guyz feel what they WANT to feel, and see what ever improvement(or lack ov) thats in thier mind!!....Very few will actually tell it like it iz when it kumz to compare'in performance to tha money spent to git it....Juss like tha discussion about tha 5 peddle vs 7 peddle wit carbs....It'z been proven over and over tha 5 peddle will outdo tha 7 peddle in tha lower operat'in range,But will still aloow tha mota to turn over 9500!!... now tha more CU IN's, tha less this iz a factor....

Sorry shorty, didn't meen ta ramble on ya post, U no how I iz...:-).....Keep up tha good work, an be carefull git'in on an off that icechest!!!!

[Jay Smith]

Thanks Rex ( I think ? )

BTW: you still gonna be doing that "SANTA CLAUSE" gig at Sears this year, if ya R I'll bring my grandson up to set on yer lap and tell ya what he wants fer Christmas again, hey sorry fer that accident he did on yer lap last year he had a little loose bowl issue, he got into the hounds food...

Love, yer favorite Texas pigmy ! Happy Holidays....

Jay and Cathy

[davemvegas]

what am i using invisable ink or somthing?i guess if i am going to read between the lines and form my own opinion i think t-rex is telling me dont send my money to jay for this modification because i am not spinning enough rpms to need boxes opened up.(also i think t-rex might be taller than jay)

[Jay Smith]

AS always I suggest for everyone to do and believe who you choose its your money and your motor...

A $60.00 machining of the5 petal cages charge + $60.00 to bead blast and lap cages won't make or break me..

I'm here for any customer or potientional customer that chooses to use JSRE'S services , I'll NOT or will ever hustle a person for business, I have plenty here..

Happy Holidays,
Jay

[davemvegas]

jay i agree 120.00 is not a issue.but i dont think you are understanding my concern. MY 1991 200HP STOCK CARB MOTOR HAS 7 PETAL REEDS FROM FACTORY.i have already bought tdr fiber reeds but have not installed them yet. from what i am reading from t-rex is that with my max rpms expected to be 7500 then my STOCK 7 PEDAL REED BOXES.are to big already so cutting could hurt my low and mid range and with my motor not running over 7500 rpms i wont ever get to rpm range to get more hp.i am not trying to question your machine work just trying to know if my motor will go faster with boxes opened up or are they to big already. i know that i will not switch to a 5 petal because i already bought tdr reeds for my 7 petal. just trying to get all i can out of motor i have.

[Fish]

great thread, thanks Jay and Rex for continuing to share your immense knowledge.

[Jay Smith]

Now I think I have written with invisable ink as you said before.... I'd open the cages up to the new style cages. Don't know how many times I can say it !!!!

EVERYONE has an opinion and the above is mine........Believe who you choose and do what you want as I said earlier ....The 5 petal will have more bottom but WAY less top , you have 7 you can't change that so I would make the 7 as free flowing as I could..If that is confusing call me 1 281 576 5088 cst

Jay

[Germansaleen]

Jay and t Rex you are t Man,
thanks for sharing the secrets with us

what i wanna say to performance tuning at all,
a little change in parts specially the reed cages as described here will do only little to your performance,sometimes the gain is so little that you cant feel it in your pants .
the right combination is it,and the sum of mods what you have dune to the engine .
Little here and little there at the right place and voila.... same prop same condition and 4mph more on ta clock .......

as trex said
But they ALLOW sum more air/fuel flow if tha mota wants it!!....

[T-REX]

I ain't try'in ta undercut anybodies bussiness, practices, tha way they do anythang...I'm simply pass'in on what I have leern'd from cutt'in up, blow'in up, an F'n up many a mota(wuther it fish'in or half azz race mota)....I am a firm believer dat a SMART man git's az many opinions, and FACTS az he kan, but tha part that seperates a man, from a SMART man iz tha COMMON sense it takes to seperate tha usable knowledge from tha vast array ov bullchit that is out ther float'in in cyber space.....

Az for tha 91, 7 peddle mota...U got tha reeds for tha 7 peddle front, then U would be a damm fool ta change to a 5 peddle!!!...Az for jay's cut'in tha cages make'in a Plus or a minus responce iz very simple to aquire...Put tha stock cages in with the new reeds...Run them, and document RPM, speed, and responce time from zero to 50 or so.....Then take tha cages, send to jay to cut, then run tha mota and compare results to your records.....Then U kin tell wher tha BS starts, and stops!!.....I am In NO way try'in to git U to change anythang, or tell anybody what they should do...I don't give a fly'in ratz azz one way or tha other....I'm juss give'in free information since I HAVE been in your shoez!!!!.....

Jay, I quit tha santy klauze thang...One round wit yo young'unz wuz enuff ta go back ta bein re-tard...:-)