Hmmm... looks like 18* is a better option.... or forced induction.

 

3rd thing - compression ratio. those fancy round valves don't dip into the cylinder, they sit inside two support blocks. Looking at the picture it's looks like they're a fair distance away from the top of the piston... even with a flat-top I wonder what compression ratios they've been using.

4th thing - "valve" timing for differently sized engines and purposes obviously have to be adjusted... begging the question of cost. How much to grind and hollow-out one of those fancy sperical valve "cams/valves".

I sent an email to Coates years ago and got a reply saying they had a SBC mule working at the time, as well as a BBC and a FSB. i belive he mentioned the SBC heads to be about 18 months out.... they'e a few years behind schedule I guess.

I'd put these in the same arena as the instant-shift (syncro and clutch free) manual that was being developed in britan. The email I got from them was touting similar amazing results and that they had it running in a T56 and a T5. Though there was some problem with downshifting I belive. For dedicated drag car it seemed like a huge bonus though, no power losses from an automatic and no delay in shift time (it was also a pretty ingenious idea on the surface).

 

hard times for everyone......not suprizing