heads aluminum vs iron

[jhowell34]

well im on a budget built 451 since my first motor build but i wanted to know should i save for the 440source heads or spend money porting and doing my 452 heads i can port them myself with a mp template and just buy a porting kit but if a machine shop built my heads and did the whole nine yards port n polish how much am i looking at spending

[Challenger340]

You can utilize a little higher Compression Ratio with the Aluminum Heads, than comparably to Iron, for readily available Pump Gas ?

Can't beat the Stealths for the price, although the hardware they come with is junk and should be turfed ?
SKIP the 452's IMO.

[FLG]

If your going Iron Vs Aluminum just the way it is (just a 3 angle valve job and hardware) in cost alone you will save money with the iron but get more performance out of the aluminum.

If your going all out, port and polish id say go with the aluminum because in the end your still going to be laving some on the table with iron heads. But be advised its not cheap, depending on how good you want it you can easily spend probably about 400$ in the low end and well up to and over 1k on the high side for just porting and polishing.

[jhowell34]

well ill just save for the 440source aluminum heads i wonder can you buy those heads bare and do new valves etc

[Challenger340]

I simply cannot rebuild Iron heads, "properly" anymore, at my Shop, and afford to pay wages to do it !
Can't do it !

Beware,
when I say "properly", I MEAN THAT !
No point rebuilding a Head. ANY Head even Iron, without using a good Valve Guide that maintains good Valve Stem Clearance, so the Decent Valve Job being applied for performance use STAYS INTACT !
Same goes for decent valves, seals, springs & retainers.
By the time a guy rebuilds a set of Iron heads "properly", for street use, he's lucky if he can break even !
THAT, just don't keep the lights on ?

BUY the Stealths "Complete", have them checked out, replace the Springs/Locks & Retainers, you are good to go.

[jhowell34]

yea thanks guys ill sell the 452

[justcruisin]

I have just recently gone through the exercise of which head, you need to decide what your intended use is and then look at your budget. Dollar for dollar you are better off with aluminum rather than spending money on your iron heads if you want more performance, but if you don't have the budget, get your iron heads checked over and if they are ok have a crack at doing it yourself with your MP template and what you get is what you get, all good experience anyway. I went with the eddy rpm's rather than the source heads, the eddy's are tried and true with quality hardware and made in USA. Also there is alot of bad reports on the stealth's and IMO the extra $ for the eddy's are worth the piece of mind

[jhowell34]

eddys are like 1400 for that much i can fab my own turbo system with iron heads since im a hell of a fabricator i couldnt see myself spending 1400 on heads unported

[mikesbbody]

I have just recently gone through the exercise of which head, you need to decide what your intended use is and then look at your budget. Dollar for dollar you are better off with aluminum rather than spending money on your iron heads if you want more performance, but if you don't have the budget, get your iron heads checked over and if they are ok have a crack at doing it yourself with your MP template and what you get is what you get, all good experience anyway. I went with the eddy rpm's rather than the source heads, the eddy's are tried and true with quality hardware and made in USA. Also there is alot of bad reports on the stealth's and IMO the extra $ for the eddy's are worth the piece of mind

I agree, the only thing with Eddy's is being a angle plug head, only certain types of Headers fit (or fit without major tweaking) are you running headers? if so what kind? persoanlly, i would spend more on the Eddy's than buying the Cheaper Stealth's another option is the Eddy RPM Extreme Heads  Ron say's the MP Alloy Heads are Eddy Heads with a straight plug which is another option to consider.

[jhowell34]

im a run some cheap headers like hedmans or something no need for me to spend big bucks on headers cuz to me the expensive ones only have like 5-15hp gain at most from a cheaper header and spending hundreds more for that gain isnt worth it

[FLG]

The aluminum mopar heads are a nice compromise, mancini sells em and with straight plugs no need to worry about header fitment.

[jhowell34]

just checked them out not bad good flow numbers and under 1k hmmm not bad

[Cooter]

Depends on the aluminum head. I know some of the Eddy heads barring the Victor series, cause you to have to buy "Other" accessories in order to get them to work which can add up quick. Like for instance, Pushrods, Offset rocker arms, Crazy valve stem sizes, Weird high dollar keepers/retainers, usually made out of Titanium or something...

[jhowell34]

http://chucker54.stores.yahoo.net/perpalas88pa.html
is that the price for one head?!!!!

[jhowell34]

if i cant get aluminum heads for 1k ill just gut the ish out of the iron heads and port hell out of them myself with a template

[Bossman963]

if you use the Edelbrock RPM heads there are done very well and its just like taking the 904 -porting, polishing, ss valves - just make them maxed out- so if you go with the angled spark plugs there is only 1 Company that make the headers its TTI, there superb, fit perfectly- believe me as I have already been down this road and nobody make the headers other than TTI

[mikesbbody]

I agree with you Bossman, TTI's are the best I also heard they are either the only (or one of the only) Headers out there to fit Eddy's
But jhowell said he runs cheap Headers on them so maybe others can fit? 

[Bossman963]

No don't think so about jhowell as I bought several sets- even the guys @ Eddy said headman super comp would work- BS as I eventually talked to the Pres and nothing works, the TTI headers aren't really that expensive- and what impressed the most of the TTI is how thick the material is, weld joints and I went with chrome and just luv them. I paid about $100.00 more for the TTI than super comp headers- my 2 cts;)

[mikesbbody]

Bottom line is you pay for Quality you have them, and love them they will definitley be my next Headers great clearence, good looks and Top Quality! TTI make great stuff  NEVER heard anything negative said about TTI 

[jhowell34]

no i never said i ran cheap headers on eddys i said im going to run cheap headers haha

[tricky lugnuts]

I went with the Stealth heads. I still haven't run them, so I'm no help there - engine is still in the machine shop . . .

Replaced the locks and retainers with the Comp 10-degree pieces, as recommended by others on this site. The new ones look MUCH, MUCH heftier than what came on them.

I believe the springs are rated to .600 lift, a pretty substantial upgrade over a stock Mopar iron-head spring. Should be fine with the .513 lift Lunati cam I'll be running.

By bolting on a set you're knocking a solid 50-60 pounds off the front end. It's amazing to hold one up one of these aluminum heads after one of those old cast iron pieces. Night and day.

My machinist looked the Stealth heads over and didn't see any problems. Can they be improved upon? Sure. Are they the perfect-for-every-application, out-of-the-box race head? No.

Cost: You're looking at $999 for the two heads, $50 for locks and retainers, $30-$40 for new head bolts, $25 for long-reach plugs, plus shipping, minimum.

I'm also going with a set of Cometic multi-layer steel head gaskets, so that's another $150-$200. I've heard that's the best way to go if you want to run an aluminum head on an iron block and don't want to put a new head gasket on every XXXX miles.

You could spend that much redoing a set of iron heads easy; or less, depending on how far you want to take it. A guy over on Moparts just posted a thread about some heads he built for a customer. Cost: $1,300.

As far as Edelbrock goes . . . I figured for what I'm building, mainly a daily driver with an aim toward maximizing performance and economy, that the Edelbrock heads were not necessary.

The difference in price, about $500, was enough to buy that new carburetor, or that new intake manifold, or that new set of pistons . . . You makes your choices and you takes your chances!

[jhowell34]

well damn very helpful that put things in a better perspective for me and made me decide on what i wanna do thanks