aluminum heads

Wow, I have thought the same thing. I have had Edlebrock heads in the past and they have always worked great as well as being well made.
I have no experience with the other aluminum pieces out there. I lean toward the Edelbrocks, just out of familiarity.
"Mustang and Fast Ford, November 2004, page 172, ran a test on the 3V CHI Heads and they got a great review. You can check chiheads,com and I beleive these are the heads PI Motorsports sells.
Good Luck,
Mitch

LPB,

I too checked mine a week or so back, scared to drive the car after all the bad press here about 2 piece stock valves, regressing to 2 pieces. Then I thought; why would I rebuild these and not just get some aftermarket heads.....then why would I just stick aftermarket heads on a 30 year old motor...might as well rebuild the bottoem end to take them. Before you know it I'm looking at stroker motors and major investment

I haven't read it yet, but the latest PI issue has an article by Jack DeRyke on aftermarket heads.

In searching I have been swaying toward the AFD heads, they seem pretty good right out the box and I think have port locations/sizes that mate right up with your existing intake and headers.

Julian

Joules I end up in the same delema.... I pulled the motor due to a jambed oil pump ... then due to bad press on the blocks .. found a XE block .. come to find out the engine builder pulled a set of C302B's out of the back of his shop with intake ... so now I'm up to buying a SCAT stroker kit.... WEW it will be some engine but beware of the snow ball effect.

Ron

The easiest, least painful way to convert to alloy heads, that will require the least amount of additional new parts, is to purchase 4V heads from CHI. The CHI 4V head is basically their 3V head, with the intake port opening machined to the size of the oem 4V port.

AFD will also machine the ports of their 4V heads to the full size of the oem 4V port on special order. (AFD standard 4V head has a "stuffed" intake port configuration).

Another alternative would be to use the 2V head from either CHI or AFD and combine that with either an Edelbrock Performer 2V intake, or the new Edelbrock Perfromer RPM air-gap intake.

You can't go wrong with either choice, the 2V heads will make a better street motor. The 4V heads will allow use of certain 4V intake manifolds, like the Holley Strip Dominator, Blue Thunder, Boss 351, etc.

There are also high rise, single plane, spider intakes for 2V, 3V or 4V heads, although the price, to your door will be about $750 USD.

Your friend on the DTBB

750 for the intake?

quote:

Originally posted by lastpushbutton:
750 for the intake?

Yeah.....hefty price tag.

They're from Australia. All Aussie intakes are very expensive by the time they get to your door. The 2V & "stuffed" 4V intakes are the Parker Funnel Web intakes, the 3V intake is made by CHI for their heads. They are all good intakes, all sit the carbs up very, very high. Look at the intake on Gary's 434 motor to get an idea how high the CHI intake is.

The intakes are not needed for a "good street motor". They work very impressively at the upper rpm range. They look bitchen too! They are not for the guy, like me, that wants to keep the motor under the engine screen.

One caveat. Mustangs Unlimited is selling a "Parker Funnel Web" intake for $269. This can't possibly be a real Paker intake, it is assumed that it is a cheap Chinese copy.

your friend on the DTBB

Another worthy consideration are the CHI 3V heads, with the 2 plane manifold designed specifically for the 3V head. The manifold sits the carb just low enough to fit carb & air filter below the engine screen. The manifold looks like the Ford D1ZX-9424-DA intake, but the design has been tweeked to make more power.

Because this manifold is from Australia, it will be expensive.

The high port 3V head plus this intake may very well be the best street combo available.

Your friend on the DTBB

So with the heads and maybe new headers you guys are talking three thousand bucks or so. I bought a whole engine with a three year warrenty for that. Not a critisism, in fact if I had the money I would spend it all on goodies, but thankfully I don't have the money.

quote:

Originally posted by DeTom:
So with the heads and maybe new headers you guys are talking three thousand bucks or so...

With 4V heads, there is no need to purchase anything other than the heads, just use the manifold you got!

With 2V heads, an inexpensive US manufactured Edelbrock manifold can be selected.

I'm just providing answers before the questions are asked.

your friend on the DTBB

I didn't mean that as critisism at all. I was just saying these things are like computers. For just a little bit more money, you can have this thing and then for a little bit more than that, you can get this really cool feature, and then, before you know what has happened, your three hundred buck computer has cost you eight hundred.

Below is the content of an e-mail to aus-ford-parts, from a satisfied AFD customer:

"I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for the heads I purchased. You worked with me one on one to insure I had the right setup for my motor.

I've got my motor together and it runs way above my expectations! I'm running well over 600hp with the 2V Cleveland heads on my 393 Stroker and I've got power brakes without a vacuum pump!

I can't wait to surprise my Chevy boys this spring at the track!

Here is my set up for my 68 cougar.

AFD 2V Heads
Edelbrock Air Gap Manifold
Mighty Demon 830 carb
Howard Camshafts - Solid Roller Cam/Lifters/Rockers/Girdle
MSD Ignition
4bbl headers
Ford AOD transmission (Modified with AOD Lockout and Stall converter)
4:54 True track"

I do not intend for this to be an endorsement of AFD heads, but rather an example of what the new generation of alloy 2V heads can accomplish.

393 cubic inches, 600 bhp, most impressive.

your freind on the DTBB

Depending on how one feels about the Pantera engine screen, the decision is probably going to be made on the intake manifold.
All of the intakes and heads that make power are systems.
It is rather easy and almost commonplace to make 500 to 550hp with 357 cubes. That will give you 450 to 460 lbs-ft of torque.
The strokers are so cheap now that they certainly are that much more attractive but you don't need them.
In fact in my day, I heard more then a few 427 people talk about destroking so that there would be more rpms available.
I personally don't see the value of buying 2v heads and spending $2500 to port them.
The 4v heads are the way to go.
You guys don't want to hear it from me anymore BUT there isn't any current head that has anything over the A3 Motorsport. They may be equal but not better.
By the same token if you are going to invest in a nice aluminum head system, please don't come back to the forum and ask what's wrong with my engine and tell us that you put a hydraulic lifter RV camshaft in it.
The scream generated by the 180's isn't from cubes it's from rpm and camshaft timing.
The Webers don't contribute other then attracting ugly biker girls.

quote:

Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
...I personally don't see the value of buying 2v heads and spending $2500 to port them...

the alloy 2V heads from CHI & AFD, which sell for around $1800 to your door in the US, will support 600 bhp "unported", no further money to be spent.

the cast iron 302C heads on the other hand, will only support 500 bhp fully ported, and by then you would have more money invested in them than a set of alloy heads.

your friend on the DTBB

What's the difference from the Chi 4V & 3V.

quote:

Originally posted by jwr2968:
What's the difference from the Chi 4V & 3V.

the opening of the intake port is machined larger to match the size of the oem 4V intake manifolds. That's the only difference.

I'll take a moment and make sure you understand the concept of a 3V port. The 3V port is 2V in size, but it is raised approx. 3/8" so that the roof of the port is the same height as the roof of a 4V port. If it were raised another 3/8", it would approximate the location of the ports in the C302 Ford Motorsport heads.

your friend on the DTBB

I guess that the 4v heads are redundent or do they make 800 out of the box?
There is a bridge for sale here George, has toll booths and everything, no money down!

Hey Doug.Why would anyone want to destroke the 427 to increase RPM.The 427 aready has a short stroke anyway,as compare to the 428.And whats up with ugly biker girls?

John Kaase won the 2004 Engine Masters competition with CHI 3V heads. Below is a link to his comments on the motor:

http://www.chiheads.com/testimonials.php#video


Doug, the 3V heads have a 2V size port, raised about 3/8". The 4V head uses the same port, only opened up at the intake flange to mate with 4V intakes. Cylinder head technology has improved over the last 30 years. I imagine they build better bridges these days too. lol......

your friend on the DTBB

I guess it just gets boring after awhile. It's always nice to keep a nice high reving SB around to make you feel more like you're driving a Formula 1 car.
I think someone refered to the Mark IV as the bread truck. They could be two speed automatics and still blow everyone away.
I suppose too that it's just that, "the grass is always greener on the other side of the street" thing.
My solution is to keep one of everything. When I get tired of all that rpm stuff and rowing through the gears I just drive the BB. You don't even need 1st gear with those things. The Pantera is the middle one. Maybe it's the just right size?