aluminum vs. cast iron heads

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joe440

joe440

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Undecided if i want to spend the money on aluminum heads. Weight is an obvious advantage with the aluminum. Just want to here some of your opinions of both and the pros and cons of both. Thanks Joe
 
Aluminum also allows more compression because of the heat transfer efficency.
 
I'm running Edelbrocks on my smallblocks i'll never go back to steel heads...had this look on my face since installing them and first pass down the track..:-D :-D
 
It really depends on your budget and your abilites,stock edelbrocks dont flow anything more than ported 360 heads and need to be checked out by a machinist.Ive seen alot of edelbrocks in different makes and they were all finished inconsistently from port to port and needed valve jobs,they also flowed under advertised.Now there is no question you would have a good bit of money into a full ported set of cast iron heads but it should still be less than edelbrocks done right.If money is not a problem then buy a aluminum head thats already been worked or pay a shop to work them,if money is an object the best option in my opinion is to learn to port your own heads or find a local guy that can and then you will have the best of both worlds,cash in the pocket and a good set of heads.
 
dont waste your money on 30 year old iron heads that will eventually crack.

full ported irons cost around the same as a stock Edelbrock set and flow nearly the same.

Then you have the option to port the Eddys. Or the 440source Stealth heads.


go aluminum !
 
W2's are iron and kick the $&* off of edelbroke heads stock & modified.lol

And don't hang an 1' off the block.

496dart said:
dont waste your money on 30 year old iron heads that will eventually crack.

full ported irons cost around the same as a stock Edelbrock set and flow nearly the same.

Then you have the option to port the Eddys. Or the 440source Stealth heads.


go aluminum !
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Actually mag'em heads have only been out 17-18yrs now.lol
 
lead69 said:
It really depends on your budget and your abilites,stock edelbrocks dont flow anything more than ported 360 heads and need to be checked out by a machinist.Ive seen alot of edelbrocks in different makes and they were all finished inconsistently from port to port and needed valve jobs,they also flowed under advertised.Now there is no question you would have a good bit of money into a full ported set of cast iron heads but it should still be less than edelbrocks done right.If money is not a problem then buy a aluminum head thats already been worked or pay a shop to work them,if money is an object the best option in my opinion is to learn to port your own heads or find a local guy that can and then you will have the best of both worlds,cash in the pocket and a good set of heads.
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I did not find any of these problems with the Eldelbrock heads. I took them to my machinist & had him inspect them & check for valve seal. All were ok. I'm very impressed with the out of the box performance. The only thing I changed was the valve springs to match my camshaft. As for the port finish, if you look down the carb opening to where the intake meets the head, you could not have ported these any closer. They match that well. I run a mild 360 combo (11.47 @ 116mph ) in a 3360 lbs street car. These are unported, out of the box heads. Just think what they will do when they are ported. Also, they can be repaired if you have an engine failure. It was the best $1200.00 I ever spent.
 
My mildly ported xheads in my 340 67'valiant flow more at low lifts
[where it counts] then eddy's do, and flow about the same .500 up as do the exhaust.
 
lead69 said:
It really depends on your budget and your abilites,stock edelbrocks dont flow anything more than ported 360 heads and need to be checked out by a machinist.Ive seen alot of edelbrocks in different makes and they were all finished inconsistently from port to port and needed valve jobs,they also flowed under advertised.Now there is no question you would have a good bit of money into a full ported set of cast iron heads but it should still be less than edelbrocks done right.If money is not a problem then buy a aluminum head thats already been worked or pay a shop to work them,if money is an object the best option in my opinion is to learn to port your own heads or find a local guy that can and then you will have the best of both worlds,cash in the pocket and a good set of heads.
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This is true I have seen push rod holes out of spec and re machined cause of it. And rocker stands needed corrected also.
 
mikedevore said:
I did not find any of these problems with the Eldelbrock heads. I took them to my machinist & had him inspect them & check for valve seal. All were ok. I'm very impressed with the out of the box performance. The only thing I changed was the valve springs to match my camshaft. As for the port finish, if you look down the carb opening to where the intake meets the head, you could not have ported these any closer. They match that well. I run a mild 360 combo (11.47 @ 116mph ) in a 3360 lbs street car. These are unported, out of the box heads. Just think what they will do when they are ported. Also, they can be repaired if you have an engine failure. It was the best $1200.00 I ever spent.
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Im not arguing but based on my experience I would ask if he pulled all the valves and checked all the short turns,as well as measured the bowls.They will run but the quality is not as good as a set of heads done at a quality machine shop.Most of the sets I have seen you could see daylight at the valve,the only thing sealing it was the spring,and this was two different shops and with amc,mopar,and chevy edelbrock rpm heads.Also the flow numbers out of the box on the la heads were in the 230s,he did a comparrison to a set of ported iron I did that flowed 255 @.500 in back to back tests so no matter how its sliced they flowed considerably less than the ported 596s.
 
joe440 said:
Undecided if i want to spend the money on aluminum heads. Weight is an obvious advantage with the aluminum. Just want to here some of your opinions of both and the pros and cons of both. Thanks Joe
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I would reccomend contacting BJR for his professional opinion,hes a regular here-or used to be.Many here including me have talked with him and he is pretty sharp,I think crackedback has his website,maybe they will chime in as well.
 
If your talking big block[duh, sorry] the stealth heads are the way, unless you know how to port and not ruin heads.

Well ported 906-915 iron flows anywhere from 270cfm-290cfm int,exh in the low 200's cfm wise.

I really like the stealth heads if your starting from scratch with no heads or tired/wasted needs new everything heads.

The stealth price is right!
 
I Have the stelath heads on my 451 stroker inmy duster. They have about 500mi on them and so far...no probs...and i am happy with them as i just took them out of the box and installed them.
 
lead69 said:
I would reccomend contacting BJR for his professional opinion,hes a regular here-or used to be.Many here including me have talked with him and he is pretty sharp,I think crackedback has his website,maybe they will chime in as well.
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He's here often. Just dosen't post that much. His way of doing things bucks what most people "think" is the way to go. Don't think, know what your doing and what you need for what you want to do.

When he puts up an answer, it often ends up in a argumentive like battle in what he recomends. Funny, he's been there and done that and proves it over and over again, but some people just keep on coming back saying he doesn't know what he's talking about. Often recomending more work than needed or they recomend a poor direction. (Overkill) They'll recomend overpriced, over worked heads when it is simply not needed.

How many MoPar guys port heads for a living?
How many have raced with top fuel/alchol teams?
How many MoPar head porters here currently race every living chance they get?
How many have patents hanging on there wall for automotive cylinder head design?
How many are on this site willing to help out and talk to you for free?
How many will port your heads at a very reasonable price for what you need rather than what you think you need?

Answer, BJR ; http://www.bjrracing.com/

I've spoken to a few head porters. A couple of MoPar only guys. I'm backing one man out of the slew I have ever spoke with. You want to port your heads? Then you want it done right. Talk with BJR. Tell him everything about the engine and if your not there yet, tell him where you want to be. (This is part of "Make a plan and stick with it or pay more money and go slower.)
He'll set you up well.
 
Aluminums have the bonuses of being lighter, easier to port, and better chambers. You can spend any amount of money you want, those three thigns can't be beaten. Unless the classes you race specifically notes the head choice, or there is some moral imperative to run iron, it doesnt make sense, or dollars and sense, not to use them and build to take advantage of those. There are a couple kick *** small block iron heads. but truthfully, there are still much better aluminums, and anby differences in thermal efficiencies can be compensated for in the design phase. The Stealths are ok, just ahve them checked and I'd replace the springs, retainers, and locks.
 
agreed .....moper is the man..



go with the modern parts.


unless you have a set of already , ported, iron killer heads.....
 
the only real reason to run iron heads is if you have a GOOD set that's ready to run. That's where I am at. Have a new set of Muscle Motors stage 1 heads for my new 383. Would love to jump on a set of stealths, but have $750 in the iron heads. Had them a few years. For the motor I'm doing these should suffice pretty well. Comp cams XE285HL cam. But.... if I was doing it from scratch today, there's no way you can beat $900 for a set of new stealths. No way!!
 
In my case I wish I had bought aluminum heads to start with. I took a set of J heads (SB) had them opened up for larger valves, hardened seats, bronze guides, new springs, valves, keepers and when i got done a little more could have had the aluminum.

Then I kept having valve train problems so they were done again, now I have more than cost of aluminum in a set of old iron heads

Buy the best to start and don't look back
 
If I ever build a big block I would buy the stealths,Ive heard alot of good things about them,and the price is great.
 
moper said:
Unless the classes you race specifically notes the head choice, or there is some moral imperative to run iron, it doesnt make sense, or dollars and sense, not to use them and build to take advantage of those.
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While I agree aluminum has its adavantages this statement is a little broad,if your talking race and no budget then great go with a good set of aluminum.My point is for the guys on a budget looking to make 400 (sb) to 450 h.p.(bb) in a street car thats an unneeded expense,a set of irons that have a good muti angle valvejob,bowl cut and properly done around here go for around $600-$700 complete,thats alot less money.Also Im curious,are you saying you dont see issues with the edelbrock heads?,every machine shop around here will tell you to have them right it usaully takes a couple hundred to fix any array of out of spec issues,and thats still with what I consider to be poor for the money spent otb flow numbers.
 
lead, The last set of irons I did were $1200 compete.

These were bare castings, and they were disassembled, cleaned, magnafluxed, had all new guides, new hardened exh seats, spring seats cut for double springs, guides trimmed for small seals, 5 angle valve job, and millied .040 with the intake side milled to match. Si Stainless performance valves, and Crane springs, retainers, and locks. Without using the Crane stuff or stainless valves, I could have saved about $300 off that price. A head in that form will make 450hp on a street motor, and do it for 100K miles. But, that head is maxed without any port work, and is just too small in stock form to feed the stroked big blocks.

So I agree yes, it can be done cheaper, but it doesnt allow much for growth. Also, in terms of power production, open chamber versions will not make as much power on pump fuel as an engine designed and built with aluminum heads with closed chambers. Nor will they ever help in the weight department.

RPMs are $1460 on Summit right now. Now, to get the RPMs to be right, I budget $200 for the correction and whatever the matched springs cost. The issues I find are similar to other shops that have th tools to measure. Seats out of round, and guides tight on almost every head. Especially the exh guides. The last set of RPMs I did were $1700 as installed. They flowed about 18% better than any stock iron port. Similar to if those irons had been ported to a stage 2 level (280 intake cfm). Except stage two porting will cost $500+ to get. It's up to the builder/buyer of course.

I do like to run iron heads, but dollar for dollar, the aluminums simply give more positive result for almost the same cash. Using Stealths will get you similar performance for a little less than the RPMs, but typically (and this is all second hand info...) they need retainers, springs, and locks replaced too (quality and performance level issues), and need to run the 440 Source head gaskets. I have not used them as of yet myself in all fairness to 440Source.
 
Thanks for the info moper,I have to say Im lucky as to have iron heads done to the level you describe is around $700-I also do my own port work so thats just free h.p..Im not a pro but I have spent alot of hours in machine shops going over heads of all brands/types and dollar amounts including cnc ported ect,I was lucky enough to have a mentor that was a top notch head porter so it taught me alot.I also have ported alot of sets for friends so Ive seen alot of the same issues time after time with certain heads.Hope it didnt seem like I was jabbing you,just quriosity as everyone has their way of doing things,thanks again for the reply.
 
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