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Aluminum vs Cast Iron heads

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Nick Micale said:
The internet is full of BS and opinions stated as facts, and this thread has many replies that prove this point?

You have to be really stupid or stubborn to run iron modified stock heads in the low 9's, much less into the 8's. :confused:

HP is made by fuel and air, so the more air you can get into the combustion chamber, the more power you can make.

Since boost is restriction, less is better since compressing air quickly adds lots of heat which is not wanted in the combustion process.

The fact is alum heads have considerably larger ports and valves, more air can be moved and it will be cooler when entering the combustion chamber because of less boost.

Alum heads also dissipate heat better than iron heads, you can use more boost or compression than iron heads. All modern performance engines run alum heads with high compression compared the old muscle cars.

As far as pricing, that is more BS, max ported iron heads done right will cost about $1500, a set of new TA alum heads out-of-the-box with little clean up will out flow the irons by 50%. Basic cost of a complete set of TA heads is $1800.

Good flowing heads is the cheapest HP you can purchase!

One other BS statement on alum heads is they do not respond well in street driving. We have replaced many iron heads with alum, and NEVER seen any drop in street performance, just the contrary.

Of all the performance mods on our turbo cars, alum heads is an item that in most all cases will add value to the car because it is visible proof, not someone's sales pitch about their iron heads that my be ported with larger valves or not!
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i have to say that i agree with nick.........i have built a lot of engines and the aluminum heads always have a great advantage......they seem to be easier to get the numbers.......considering the money we spend on these cars to get them fast, the difference is just not that much............i do have a flow bench and i have never measured any iron heads that could flow the numbers of the aluminum TA or champion heads straight out of the box........its like fighting with one hand tied behind your back.........as for street-ability look at GM..........most of the performance engines come from the factory with aluminum heads.........a famous engine builder once told me there were three secrets to building fast engines........he said #1 the power is in the heads.......#2 the power is in the heads....... and #3 the power is in the heads.........i have never forgot those words ..............RC
 
A2000RICH said:
i have to say that i agree with nick.........i have built a lot of engines and the aluminum heads always have a great advantage......they seem to be easier to get the numbers.......considering the money we spend on these cars to get them fast, the difference is just not that much............i do have a flow bench and i have never measured any iron heads that could flow the numbers of the aluminum TA or champion heads straight out of the box........its like fighting with one hand tied behind your back.........as for street-ability look at GM..........most of the performance engines come from the factory with aluminum heads.........a famous engine builder once told me there were three secrets to building fast engines........he said #1 the power is in the heads.......#2 the power is in the heads....... and #3 the power is in the heads.........i have never forgot those words ..............RC
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Wonder if it was the same guy quoted in the back of kirbans 400 page book? Forget who it was..
 
guys the poster has a 10 sec iron head car at 23 psi that doesn't break.he has more head then he can use with a 62/62 turbo 212/212 cam and a converter that wont couple the power for the next steps.putting a better head on the car is a waste.the easiest and cheapest way would to go faster would be a better converter and raise the boost.a ported aluminum head with a 212/212 cam and a small 62 ex wheel:eek:
 
Keep the irons if you have them. Once they crack you can't fix them. So once that happens go aluminum as they will be all you need for any application you want later down the road. And if you have issues with them they can be fixed unlike irons.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
 
It boils down to your budget...plain and simple. I was tempted many times (while porting my irons) to pick up the phone and order a set of aluminum heads. No doubt that it would have been easier but it wasn't in the budget on this motor.

I have around $500 (plus a lot of grinding) in a set of irons that should be capable of 9's. Johns car is a perfect example (inspiration for me) of what can be done on irons.....my guess would be around 900 to the ground.
 
Guys, I appreciate your perspective regarding Aluminium vs Cast Iron Heads. I wouldn’t mind changing the converter if it would help my overall ET while not loosing street-ability. I know technology has come a long way but I've ridden in cars with a stall that's way to high for the street, definitely no fun to drive. I will have the engine out soon so installing a converter wouldn’t be a huge deal. Not sure if I mentioned it but I running a 200 built by Janis and a Billet Protorque converter-3000-3200 stall range. I must say the protorque worked much better for me than the re-stalled D5 I had. I was a 3000 stall also.
 
You will need to look at a logged run to see where the converter is flashing under full power to see if a converter swap is needed. The 9.5 PTC drives very tight. I fully agree on hating the loose converter feel while street driving. The full throttle rev x converters are good as well.
 
forcefed3.8's said:
You will need to look at a logged run to see where the converter is flashing under full power to see if a converter swap is needed. The 9.5 PTC drives very tight. I fully agree on hating the loose converter feel while street driving. The full throttle rev x converters are good as well.
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I suppose I need to purchase some better tuning equipment.... I'm just running a scanmaster with a regular O2 sensor. No wideband or SD2 chip, No power logger either. Is there a way to tell when exactly the converter flashes by feel? I'm guessing that makes the determination on what converter / stall I really need?
 
If you have a real tach, it can be watched. You will want the rpms low to get the most out of the 6262, shifts probably 5100 and a drop to 4500 or so, the rpm the shift drops to will be the flash stall.
 
I think your first step should be a Powerlogger. It would help with deciding on a converter as well as help you see if there could be an issue like fuel pressure or volts going on in the back ground.
 
Pronto said:
I think your first step should be a Powerlogger. It would help with deciding on a converter as well as help you see if there could be an issue like fuel pressure or volts going on in the back ground.
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I agree. I need to update my scan tool technology. It will probably save me in the end!
 
Forcefeds
forcefed3.8's said:
If you have a real tach, it can be watched. You will want the rpms low to get the most out of the 6262, shifts probably 5100 and a drop to 4500 or so, the rpm the shift drops to will be the flash stall.
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Just watched your video. All I have to say is, DAMN your car hauls A$$!

I'll have to do some investigating on the shift rpms....
 
forcefed3.8's said:
If you have a real tach, it can be watched. You will want the rpms low to get the most out of the 6262, shifts probably 5100 and a drop to 4500 or so, the rpm the shift drops to will be the flash stall.
Click to expand...
Are you running a stage block?
 
A2000RICH said:
i do have a flow bench and i have never measured any iron heads that could flow the numbers of the aluminum TA or champion heads straight out of the box........
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sometimes getting the car from a to b the fastest is not about max flow numbers at all.a topic not really discussed on this board and proven by many running 9s on iron.
 
TurboWh1 said:
Guys, I appreciate your perspective regarding Aluminium vs Cast Iron Heads. I wouldn’t mind changing the converter if it would help my overall ET while not loosing street-ability. I know technology has come a long way
Click to expand...
the converters have really improved the head stuff is old news.keep your champion irons lots more you can do around that head to go faster.
 
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