Reply to "AFD Alum heads"

Kevin,

Let me be the second person to welcome you to the PIBB. Glad to have you with us!

There are 3 companies manufacturing aluminum 2V Cleveland heads at this time. Edelbrock, whom I am sure you are familiar with, plus 2 Australian companies: Air Flow Dynamics (AFD) and Cylinder Head Innovations (CHI). To your door in the US, fully prepared and ready to bolt onto your engine, the AFD 2V head is $2100 US, and the CHI head is $1950 US.

Here is the link to AFD: http://www.airflowdynamics.com.au/

And here is the link to CHI: http://www.chiheads.com/main.html

There is very little info available regarding the Edelbrock head, it is very new to the market. The AFD & CHI heads are very good products, both capable of supporting up to 600 bhp, and supplying air/fuel to a 351 cubic inch engine into the 7000 rpm range. They have well designed ports, modern high swirl combustion chambers & more centrally located spark plugs.

There is another Forum I hang out at specifically for the Cleveland engine, if you do a search in that database, you might find some owner feedback on those heads. Here's the link to that Forum: http://www.network54.com/Forum/119419?it=0

In my opinion, to have a set of iron heads fully rebuilt, machined for adjustable valve train, stainless steel valves installed, and ported will cost almost as much as the aluminum heads. For comparison, you can purchase a set of 302C heads (Australian Ford cast iron closed chamber 2V heads) fully rebuilt, prepped for adjustable valve train, 4V stainless steel valves installed from "Power Heads" for about $1000, for another $500 they'll hand port them as well, making them capable of supporting up to 500 bhp. That's $1500 total, and you would not have as good a head as the CHI or AFD heads, which will cost you another $450 to $600.

There is no such thing as a "bad" performing Cleveland cylinder head. The iron heads flow pretty good as cast. So if the budget is limited and you have to choose between one or the other, a hydraulic roller cam would be the wiser investment than an alloy cylinder head. I highly recommend using a hydraulic roller cam if you are attempting to increase the output of your motor.

I'll also take this opportunity to mention, besides 2V Cleveland heads, CHI makes a 3V head (2V intake port raised 3/8") and a 4V head. AFD makes a 4V head with a "stuffed" intake port (the floor of the port is raised).

your friend on the PIBB, George