jville_hot_skater
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- Joined
- Jan 22, 2009
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- Jville
which one do you perfer stock or after?
what are the pros and cons?
what are the weight differences?
what are the pros and cons?
what are the weight differences?
chevy aluminum heads vs stock cast iron heads
- Thread starter jville_hot_skater
- Start date
davidselite737
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2006
- Location
- Wallburg, NC
It really depends on your preferances. And there are many diffrent variables as well. Like what stock castings do you have?
if they need to be remachined or new valves? springs? locks?
cast heads can actually produce the same or more hp as aluminum. because cast holds heat better. this in turn could be a bad thing as well.
Most aluminum after market heads today are fairly tuff. most flow well. dont buy cheap import crap. Go with a good brand name(have seen multiple "brand name" heads out of box that had to be resurfaced and remachined.) Take your pick
There are some real good flowing stock castings. You can search this on the internet.
But the thing that will make up my mind when I build my small block(one day) (if that day ever comes) is that the cost of machining, which includes resurfacing, valve seat angle job, porting, polishing, cutting down for larger springs. all that cost so much on a stock cast head.
When with the same money, let's say $1000 dollars you can get a fully assembled set of nice aluminum heads. Just try and go to summit racing and buy all the above stuff, then take a look in your cart, see the price, now add in your best machine shop's labor charges and your price will not differ that much from a decent set of aluminum heads. Unless you want bone stock and your wasting my time,lol. If your building a engine dont cut short on the heads. You could save money by using stock crank, rods, and pistons. If you dump that saved money in your heads and good matching cam and valvetrain combo, you could easily make 400hp or more. If the bottom end of your engine is your bone structure in your body wouldnt do that much good if that body didnt have lungs to breath air into it now would it. aluminum heads might save 10-20lbs on a SBC.Hope that helps.
if they need to be remachined or new valves? springs? locks?
cast heads can actually produce the same or more hp as aluminum. because cast holds heat better. this in turn could be a bad thing as well.
Most aluminum after market heads today are fairly tuff. most flow well. dont buy cheap import crap. Go with a good brand name(have seen multiple "brand name" heads out of box that had to be resurfaced and remachined.) Take your pick
There are some real good flowing stock castings. You can search this on the internet.
But the thing that will make up my mind when I build my small block(one day) (if that day ever comes) is that the cost of machining, which includes resurfacing, valve seat angle job, porting, polishing, cutting down for larger springs. all that cost so much on a stock cast head.
When with the same money, let's say $1000 dollars you can get a fully assembled set of nice aluminum heads. Just try and go to summit racing and buy all the above stuff, then take a look in your cart, see the price, now add in your best machine shop's labor charges and your price will not differ that much from a decent set of aluminum heads. Unless you want bone stock and your wasting my time,lol. If your building a engine dont cut short on the heads. You could save money by using stock crank, rods, and pistons. If you dump that saved money in your heads and good matching cam and valvetrain combo, you could easily make 400hp or more. If the bottom end of your engine is your bone structure in your body wouldnt do that much good if that body didnt have lungs to breath air into it now would it. aluminum heads might save 10-20lbs on a SBC.Hope that helps.