Rob Louthan had an interest in muscle cars as a child but he really got hooked around 1982 when his older brother drug home a 68 Charger. In high school he built a 66 Chevelle with a twin carb 327 that was later dyno tested at 430 horse power. The owner of a local speed shop, Performance Racing Equipment, took an interest in him and introduced him to Everett Hatch who was the area's leading high performance engine builder. He went to work for Hatch Engine Service, and Louthan apprenticed there learning how to make horse power through cylinder head porting. While there, he became friends with Butch Stetson, Stetson Race Engines, who was also a very talented high performance engine builder. This friendship eventually developed into a partnership (the employer/employee partnership). Feeling he had learned all he could from Hatch, Louthan went to work for Stetson Automotive and was there for nearly a decade. This turned out to be a good move as he was able to gain experience with the new technology that wasn't being employed at Hatch Engine Service. Not only did he gain experience on all the latest high dollar aftermarket heads, such as World Products, Brodix, AFR, Canfield, TFS, and Dart, he was able to learn more about the physics of internal combustion engines. In addition, Stetson believed in keeping his equipment current so Louthan got to learn his trade on the best machines available. It didn't take long for Louthan to develop a reputation of his own, so when he started his own performance cylinder head shop in 2000, it was a relatively smooth transition.
     Louthan Competition Cylinder Heads will be celebrating their 5th year in business this year and it's exciting to see what new things they're planning. Louthan plans on expanding his focus a little this year. As it stands, most of the heads that go through the shop are V-8 drag race type heads. On any given day a walk through Louthan's shop would reveal heads of all different makes and brands; from Chevrolet, Mopar, Ford, even Honda, World Products, AFR, Dart, Canfield, Pro Top Line, Brodix, TFS, to the other end of the spectrum with Ferrari, Dodge Viper, Yamaha Raptor, and Harley Davidson. The new focus will be on the four latter names mentioned; Ferrari, Dodge Viper, Yamaha Raptor and Harley Davidson. Louthan is a Ferrari lover at heart and is quickly becoming known as one of the few in the country to send your Ferrari cylinder heads to for performance modifications (like oversized valves and custom porting). In much the same manner, the Dodge Viper guys are figuring out this is the place to send their Viper cylinder heads.  Oversized valves and some extensive flow work is yielding 45 cfm gains on Viper heads. That's a theoretical increase of 120 H.P!
For the quad guys, over the last couple years Louthan has done some amazing things to the Yamaha Raptor head. Replacing the three 30mm intake valves with 32mm valves custom made for Louthan by Manley Performance Products and performing the standard port and polish has produced some of the fastest quads the sand dunes have seen. The same goes for the Honda 400 EX. As for the Harley Davidsons, the amount of air flow he's getting from a pair of stock twin cam heads is impressive. Currently his stock twin cam heads, ported with a 1.94 valve are flowing 226.7 cfm from 186 cfm in stock form. Even the well respected Jerry Branch ported head that Louthan flow tested only flowed 221 cfm. "Please don't misunderstand", Louthan says, "just because I'm expanding my focus doesn't mean I won't be building bracket heads anymore. The local racers and auto repairs helped me build this shop and I will continue to support them anyway I can. The day I turn down a job porting a big block Chevy head is the day I'm too old to pick it up off the floor!"
     In addition to cylinder head porting, Louthan Competition is a complete cylinder head shop. If you need your Toyota head rebuilt, Louthan will do the job at a competitive price and you'll get a far superior job as all the knowledge and techniques of high performance and racing head building are incorporated into every head... including stock rebuilds. Valve jobs and valve guide replacement are handled differently than most of the local automotive machine shops. To give a couple examples, every valve job is a 3 angle valve job with the seat positioned at the edge of the valve, and all valve guides are honed, not reamed, for a perfect finish and fit with a dial bore gauge for a perfect tolerance. For more detailed info on valve jobs and valve guide replacement, click here.

Testimonials

 Rob Louthan has done fantastic work on everything I've ever taken in to his shop. He massaged a lot more flow from the Canfield aluminum heads I used to run on my nitromethane burning front engine dragster. When I later went to World Products Motown 220's (iron) he made them sing too. I've never had a single valve-train related failure of any kind in my small block Chevy motors since taking all of my head work to Rob starting in 2000. I know some of it is the quality parts he uses (Manley, etc.), but also the meticulous setup and check-out he performs on every valve, spring, guide, lock, and retainer. While people around us in the pits are dropping/sticking/galling valves, breaking springs, bending pushrods, and snapping rocker studs, my stuff just keeps working and looking terrific. Louthan Competition's facility & machinery are very nice, his prices are reasonable, and he turns things around very quickly. Even when I'm in a pinch, he has NEVER failed to get my stuff out the door in time and in top-notch condition.
Chris "Spud" Miller
One Hot Chili Pepper Racing (www.onehotchilipepper.com)

Harley Davidson cylinder heads Ferrari cylinder heads Yamaha Raptor cylinder heads Honda 400 EX cylinder heads Dodge Viper cylinder heads manley performance valves 308 328 355

Rob, Thanks very much for building the set of World Products heads, My ET's went from 13.50 to 12.27 and mph from 101 to 144.8 and there is still more potential!
Thanks,
Jim Frymire

Harley Davidson cylinder heads Ferrari cylinder heads Yamaha Raptor cylinder heads Honda 400 EX cylinder heads Dodge Viper cylinder heads manley performance valves 308 328 355
Last winter Louthan Competition ported and polished our Brodix cylinder heads while performing a valve job and installing a new set of Manley Performance severe duty valves. At the same time, we had switched from a 580 CI engine to a 540 CI engine in our Top Comp rear engine dragster. With the 580 we were running mid to low 7.70 ETs. We were concerned that we might loose a tenth of a second by loosing 40 cubes.
As it turned out the car ran mid 7.70's with the new engine. Besides the lower cubic inch, the only other difference was the headwork that Louthan Competition did. I'm convinced it was Louthan's headwork that kept us from loosing ET with the smaller engine. Also, Louthan Competition, has a fast turn around time which is key during the middle of the race season. I highly recommend Louthan Comp to both racers and automotive enthusiasts.
Rich Bailey
Capitol Auto Group Racing, Salem, OR

Harley Davidson cylinder heads Ferrari cylinder heads Yamaha Raptor cylinder heads Honda 400 EX cylinder heads Dodge Viper cylinder heads manley performance valves 308 328 355
Last year I had Rob at Louthan Competition Cylinder Heads do the head on my 2.3L turbo Ford. To tell the truth, I do have one regret; that I waited so long to have it done! I figured porting would make a “maybe” noticeable difference. It was noticeable all right. Between the cam change and the flow work, the truck picked up 12 m.p.h. in the quarter mile! 12 m.p.h.! That is huge.
Before I had the headwork done the motor was all stock. It used a flat tappet single overhead cam (SOHC). I was originally using the stock IHI turbo out of a 1988 Thunderbird Turbocoupe. I used a front mounted air-to-air intercooler out of a Volvo. The fuel injection system was stock Turbocoupe. This is a Mass air system. I eventually upgraded the turbo to a T03 out of an 86 Mustang SVO. These have a .63 Air Ratio on the exhaust side, and a .60 AR on the compressor side. I then upgraded to a T03/04 hybrid. This one had a .82 AR exhaust side, and a .60 compressor side. These Garrett turbos were a huge improvement over the stock IHI. I used a T-5 tranny out of a 1987 Mustang. Since this was a kinda low budget toy it was nice having the 5 speed. These motors are not exactly torque monsters. It was very helpful being able to slip the clutch a little to get engine RPM up a little, and build boost quicker. This was especially important with the bigger turbos I used. I played around with various levels of boost. I ran anywhere from 8-20 psi. Of course there is a corresponding increase in fun with an increase in boost gauge reading. These motors have factory forged pistons, and very good rods. But after having the truck together for a while, I got a little boost happy, and blew a head gasket. So, out the motor came. I cant say I was surprised 20 pounds of boost is a lot to ask a factory motor to hold up to on pump gas. Plus this gave me a good excuse to do some of the changes that I had been putting off. So I just had the block surfaced and honed, and reused the factory crank, rods, and pistons. I was amazed how good the bottom end of this motor looked considering it had over 100,000 miles on it. While I was putting the bottom end of the motor back together I gave the head to Louthan Competition Cylinder heads to make some improvements on it; and improve it they did. The truck was like an entirely different animal after the headwork. I had pondered the idea of having oversized valves installed, but I was very tight on money. I am amazed with the flow improvements gained even with stock valves, it makes me wonder what the truck would be like if I would have spent a little more money, and upped the valve size. Even with stock valves Louthan Comp. was able to make nearly a 40% improvement on the exhaust side, and 30% on the intake side. When you do the math that equates to a lot more ponies. After about two weeks, I got the head back from Louthan Comp. I bolted it back on the short block, and slid it back in the truck. After a little break in period I started putting a little boost to it. WOW! Did it respond nicely. The truck felt like it pulled harder with the new head at 8 psi than with the old head at 15 psi. I was expecting a difference, but I never thought it would be this significant. I continued to dial the truck in and make improvements. I installed a Tial external waste gate, a bosch blow off valve, a Turbonetics Dial-a-Boost, MSD ignition, a Mallory coil, I had the upper intake ported, I had three inch exhaust installed (an actual 3” exhaust, not just a 3” tip like your typical sport compact guy does) I upgraded the fuel injectors, and installed fuzzy dice. With all these improvements, traction began to become much more scarce. Before the headwork, the truck would bark the tires in second. After the headwork, it was just a matter of how far did you feel like leaving black stripes on the road. So I began to search for traction. One of the first things I did was to move the Optima battery to the rear. I then purchased a set of Mickey Thompson I tires. That helped the traction a great deal. To make a long story short, the truck is awesome now. I love racing the V-8 S10 guys, and putting the slap on the vast majority of them. It kinda makes them sad. Bottom line, the head work was key to this improvement in performance.
Jason Kroker, Salem, OR

Harley Davidson cylinder heads Ferrari cylinder heads Yamaha Raptor cylinder heads Honda 400 EX cylinder heads Dodge Viper cylinder heads manley performance valves 308 328 355
Dear Fellow Boating and Marine Performance Enthusiasts, As the proud owner of a 1998 Duckworth Pro 302 jet sled, Redline Marine/Ford 302 powered, I can assure you the performance enhancements provided by Louthan Competition Cylinder Heads produced an outstanding improvement in engine horsepower and overall boat performance. Stock engine horsepower rating was 217, maximum RPM's were 4000 turning an American Turbine pump, top speed approximately 50mph. Post modification/Kit installation improvements were 4800-5000 RPM’s, top speed approximately 65 mph+, and an idle (800RPM) to 4800 RPM high idle acceleration of less than 4 seconds flat! Torque is smooth across the 4000 RPM power band and the engine idles and revs like a dream on premium-unleaded gasoline. Kit components include a set of Louthan Competition reworked World Products Windsor Jr. cylinder heads, Motorsports X303 roller camshaft and lifters, Lunati roller rocker arms, and an Edelbrock RPM “Air Gap” intake with a 600 cfm Holley carburetor, all an exceptional price and an easy no hassle installation. Give Louthan Competition a call for the best in marine high performance cylinder heads and performance kit packages! Happy Boating,
Scott Lehner, Rainer, OR

Harley Davidson cylinder heads Ferrari cylinder heads Yamaha Raptor cylinder heads Honda 400 EX cylinder heads Dodge Viper cylinder heads manley performance valves 308 328 355
I just wanted to thank you for the great job you did on my Yamaha Raptor head. It looks great and performs even better. I'll recommend you highly when my friends want their bikes done. I'll send you a pic of my bike soon. Thanks!
Rick Montalvan, Hollywood, FL

Harley Davidson cylinder heads Ferrari cylinder heads Yamaha Raptor cylinder heads Honda 400 EX cylinder heads Dodge Viper cylinder heads manley performance valves 308 328 355
Finally got the engine to run! Purrs like a kitten at 1K RPM roars like a cougar at 3K, that's as high as I've gone until everything's sited and I put some load on it. I let it idle for about 30 minutes today until a coolant hose started leaking, easy fix and I was expecting small leaks here and there. Lot's of smoke everywhere mainly from fresh paint, oil and small coolant spills here and there but should burn off soon. Engine exhaust smells funny, maybe running too rich, haven't figured out how to fix that yet. I freaked out yesterday though, oil was just pouring out of somewhere. Turns out that I didn't lock the cam pulley nut properly and it started coming loose. Caught it in time before it fell off and ruined a bunch of stuff. Oil was coming from the exhaust cam with the loose nut. Bolted and torqued everything and no leaks and no damage. I'll have to change the belts though because I got oil all over them and I might as well change them since everything else is new. Still don't have everything back together though. Runs a little hot probably some air in the cooling system. Still have to hook up brakes, clutch and adjust tranny linkage but all looks good thus far. Will let you know more as I go. Thanks for all your help thus far. I couldn't have done this without you! Assuming all goes well I'll have it dynoed in about 500 miles or so when I break the engine in. Should get some better performance once I buy the electronic ignition, but I just want to get it roadworthy first.
TSgt James Consejero , 82 Ferrari Mondial 308, Colorado Springs, CO