Mastering the Hamilton Warhead

In this post we’re answering all your questions about the Hamilton Cams War Head. We’ll show you how to make it work in your Cummins, what adjustments we had to make to use it in our UCC truck, and more. Read on for all the info you could want on the War Head.

War Head Size and Custom Parts Challenges

The first thing you will notice about the War Head is that it’s about a half inch thicker than a stock engine head. This presented a problem in getting head studs for this engine. We went out and had some custom head studs made for our engine. Without this, there is no way to get a nut on the head stud. We also went with thicker studs for extra strength.

Because we went with a larger head stud for the War Head, we also had to go up to a bigger nut. The challenge with this is fitting this nut between valve covers. The big nut can pinch and crush gaskets, causing oil leaks. We created a solution with another custom head stud that tapers to a smaller ½” diameter on the nut. This prevents leaks while still increasing the strength and length of the War Head stud.

The next challenge we ran into was the length of the head. You’ll notice we had to notch our head so it doesn’t interfere with the gear cover. We’ve had to do it on every engine we have done so far.

Because the head is a little taller, factory pushrods will not work. We had to have custom length pushrods made to fit the War head. We have standard 7/16 pushrods that are approximately half an inch longer to accommodate the War Head’s size. If your into making huge power, we can even go to a 9/16 pushrod with some additional modifications to the head.

Next, the valves needed to be taller to work with this engine. A standard 8mm valve works great, but no one makes one tall enough to work in the War Head. The solution is to have your valve guide reamed out to fit an 11/32 valve.

We also went with an extreme temperature rated valve to work with the super high temperatures that our engine would produce. We recommend an inconel exhaust valve to handle the high temps. We have custom valves in stock to work with your build and prevent heat problems.

Valve Springs were the next challenge we solved. With an 11/32 valve, we were able to utilize the world of gasoline engine valve spring setups. We can drop in some really nice valve springs that will be every bit as good or better than the diesel world for a great price.

You’ll also notice that the War Head doesn’t have an intake shelf like a stock head. You will have to get some kind of runner or intake shelf for your engine. We drilled and tapped the head to work with aftermarket intake runners. We can help you with planning for this.

We also recommend having a fire ring cut into the War Head. When you order from us, we’re going to walk you through the best fire ring setup. With the power levels this head is capable of, we would not recommend running it without fire rings.

If you watched our build videos, you’ll recall that we had some issues with oil pressure when the engine was idling. It seemed lower than it should have been. You will see on these heads that there is a little freeze plug. This becomes a big deal when you put a rocker tower on the head. With the stock rocker tower, the freeze plug is exposed and open making a big oil leak in the pressurized system. The solution came as a coincidence with Harland Sharp rocker arms. The Harland sharps bases are very wide to aid in stability when using heavy springs. The rocker arm stand fits perfectly creating a seal over the freeze plug. We can even modify the Harland Sharps to accept stock rocker arms to help save you some money.

That about covers everything you might need to put a Hamilton Cams War Head on your engine. If you need help or have any questions about the War Head, we’re here to help. Call us at 435-962-9555 or text us at 435-962-9506, or hit us up on Facebook, Instagram, or leave a comment below. We try to answer any and all questions as quickly as possible.