alum heads

And I will supply the cold ones.

john

There's alot of hype with aluminum heads, in automotive applications lets say trying to get another 10th of a second in the quater mile and if you switched to the lighter heads you could get that 10th then its worth the money. as for ski boat applictions where everyone is weighing down the boats etc... I would prefer the cast because of the durability and they have been proven over the years. gt-40's and vortech heads are great heads and for the dollars if you switched you wouldnt see any noticable improvement.
dollar for dollar there are other ways to get the hp you want with out purchasing heads.
remember im a chevy guy and if i had $1200.00 to spend on a bone stock 350 I would buy a complete stroker kit, $699.00 complete a special ground cam for the 7/4 switch (guy's are claiming 25 hp on the dyno) with doing these 2 things you lets a$$ume gained 100 hp and probably doubled the torque. what kind of hp will you gain with a set of aluminum heads?

Chevy is a different animal. A stroker on a ford small block is a waste unless it can breathe...
the more cubes, the lower the rpm it runs out of steam; thats why the 302's run so well on the small boats, they can get 52 krpm and still produce power before going flat. A 392 stoker will go flat about 4400 rpm or less with stock heads.

Question since thermostates were mentioned,     Changed main circulating water pump last season cause it was leaking water from the bottom hole. Called skidm and told them to send me a water pump and the thermostat that the boat should have. They sent a 142,   the one i took out was I think a 160.     

The boat now runs in the mid 140's now.     Is that enough heat or should I go back with the 160 ?   {86sn 351}

Root, go back and read the hypertext on ReidP's link earlier. Good info on T-stat temps. It should answer your question.

Eric, I'm with you about that 383 stroker. That's what my engine will become when it comes time for a rebuild. I was planning on using iron heads on it but you know the old addage. "there is no replacement for displacement." I just wanted to try and get some more info on the AL head vs. Iron. Seems that all the street rodders are going gaa gaa for them and any one that has them just raves about 'em.

backfoot100 wrote: Root, go back and read the hypertext on ReidP's link earlier. Good info on T-stat temps. It should answer your question.

thanks,   Sounds like I have the right one in there.

Eric, I'm with you on the "gotta have it" thing with the alum heads. However, from one aspect I've seen and esp with the Ford aftermarket availability, if your intentions include a significant HP upgrade, out-of-box options are greater in aluminum. For what myself and 79 have in our iron heads (meaning larger valves and port work labor) we may have been able to obtain this as cheaply with stock alum. I'm not sure and can't speak for 79 or others, but I know the time I spent grinding on several sets of mine, and we recently bought and installed a pair of Ford X-305 alum heads for a best friends Donzi and you could stick your fist down the ports right outta da box. And it runs great bottom to top. For me (read as my budget) I still like iron, and esp as long as we're in the 275-350HP range and not 4-500HP.

Reidp, I am running the 140 on my stroker,reason being timing and detonation issues.Still have not fully broke her in yet,16hrs.but will tweak hard come spring.Ford Racing says max advace of 37 deg.w/140 therm.and 9.5 cr running pump gas will make good power and no rattle.To me cooler the better,but i agree that btu,s = HP. once again my opinion......boat dr

Eddie: Great day it was, mostly 'cause of all the greetings here. As to the compu tricks, most of the guys here are so good that it makes me happy when I can learn a little something. It sure is fun here!

john

Eric as for not blowing a 12 bolt apart, I give my old high school auto shop teachers number. His 12 bolt has blown 4 times at the track. It's not from a lack of being built right. He has a 70 chevelle with a 454 rinning about 550 HP. He launches it at 6500, with a four speed maunal. Of course the motor is balanced. He told it if it broke again it was egtting a 9 inch ford rear end. Has not broke since. but he quit racing now that his willy's coupe is done. It has a blown 327 running right around 750 hp, so the dyno says. That willy's is all metal and runs in the hi 9's. He hopes to be in the low 9's this year, he put a full metal clutch in it that he has to get used to. I will try to get some pics of it to show you when I pick up the BFN.

I see your pointe sorry Eric. miss read your post. How much snow did you guys end up getting on friday after we left. WE got home and all we had was a dusting on friday, got some of the white stuff the past couple days though. Whole 2-3 inches out there, that sucks for it being January.