How novel. I rememeber being part of the discussion on Strokers (groups.yahoo.com/group/strokers) ca. FEB2002 when we were discussing a head from a clean sheet of paper - improvements we'd make, what we'd base it on, things like that.
I eventually condensed the discussion - printed out the full discussions and summarised it to a couple of pages up front, and dropped it off with Russ Flagle at Indy Cylinder Heads.
Imagine my surprise when HESCO and Patriot Performance started selling new aluminum castings of the AMC six cylinder head! If whoever followed the discussion properly, it should be based extensively on the #7120 head (widely regarded as the best of the 242ci heads anyhow.) My only complaint? I do prefer iron over aluminum - unless you're going to develop an MLS head gasket to go with the head (I'm not sure if they did.)
If ACH is thinking, they're going to base this upon the #7120 head as well, with the refinements and mods we'd talked about, and some stuff we might not have (or that Patriot/HESCO didn't include.)
It's nice to see the aftermarket expanding tho. Just don't expect this to work with RENIX top-end parts, since they're not very common. You want to put this on a RENIX rig, you'll have to convert to OBD manifolds and such (the intake ports were raised 5/8" for the 1991MY, and stayed up, to improve cylinder head breathing.)
(Side Note - I'd like to know what role - if any - I had in making this happen. I don't want money, I just want to know my place in Jeep history. And, I'd like information on the heads for an update for the Power Manual...)