Best head castings....

[BRUTAL64]

More to a head than a name brand. the volume measurement is irrelevant. What size cross sectional area do you need for how long? What is the appropriate minimum cross sectional area you need at what choke point? What is your power goal? what kind of RPMs are we talking here? Bore/stroke?

Personally I would be looking at a rons porting service 220cc head or the similiar head from M2 porting. All pro also has a 219cc ported head that would probably do the trick.

Brodix is going to have a raised runner oval port head in the 210cc range that will probably demolish all comers. Will the intake fit under the hood..... Probably not.

The All Pro AP220S flows every single bit as much as the AFR 227 heads. Its ridiculously expensive and you need a Stahl type header flange buy hey. You asked.

Haven't decided the specs yet.
It really depends on wheather I go 372 - 406 - or 427 SB. If I go BB then it will be a 496. Just wanted to know what you thought was a good head other than AFRs. Thanks for the input.:beer:

I'd say:

Brodix has numerous models.
Edlebrock Has numerous models
Dart Has one model
All Pro
Canfield
Patriot

To name a few.

Of course, what determines "better"? We don't know your criteria.

My argument, they're all the same, what logo do you like best? Being a head porter, you should be able to make any of these heads dance. Brodix and Dart seem to be piling up trophies and control their own castings. Both have a reputation of responding very well to porting. I'd lean that way.

In my older years now, it's harder for me to sit at my porting bench for 8 hours.
I'm going to clean up ANY head I get. Just don't want to do any more work than I need to. Actually Brodix and Canfield always were some of the ones I liked. Dart, unfortunately in it's early years, didn't have that good of an exhaust port and took some work to make right. So that sticks with me even now.
As far as AFR. Price is a little high and they make some flow number claims that I have seen backed up on a flow bench. But as always, I have an open mind.:beer:

 

[redvetracr]

it`s not the castings it`s the finishing that makes power....

 

[Jsup]

More to a head than a name brand. the volume measurement is irrelevant. What size cross sectional area do you need for how long? What is the appropriate minimum cross sectional area you need at what choke point? What is your power goal? what kind of RPMs are we talking here? Bore/stroke?

Personally I would be looking at a rons porting service 220cc head or the similiar head from M2 porting. All pro also has a 219cc ported head that would probably do the trick.

Brodix is going to have a raised runner oval port head in the 210cc range that will probably demolish all comers. Will the intake fit under the hood..... Probably not.

The All Pro AP220S flows every single bit as much as the AFR 227 heads. Its ridiculously expensive and you need a Stahl type header flange buy hey. You asked.

Haven't decided the specs yet.
It really depends on wheather I go 372 - 406 - or 427 SB. If I go BB then it will be a 496. Just wanted to know what you thought was a good head other than AFRs. Thanks for the input.:beer:

I'd say:

Brodix has numerous models.
Edlebrock Has numerous models
Dart Has one model
All Pro
Canfield
Patriot

To name a few.

Of course, what determines "better"? We don't know your criteria.

My argument, they're all the same, what logo do you like best? Being a head porter, you should be able to make any of these heads dance. Brodix and Dart seem to be piling up trophies and control their own castings. Both have a reputation of responding very well to porting. I'd lean that way.

In my older years now, it's harder for me to sit at my porting bench for 8 hours.
I'm going to clean up ANY head I get. Just don't want to do any more work than I need to. Actually Brodix and Canfield always were some of the ones I liked. Dart, unfortunately in it's early years, didn't have that good of an exhaust port and took some work to make right. So that sticks with me even now.
As far as AFR. Price is a little high and they make some flow number claims that I have seen backed up on a flow bench. But as always, I have an open mind.:beer:

Well, the good news is everyone has a fully CNC ported head. So, that would cut down your touch up time.

I don't put a lot of faith in dry flow numbers, as benches vary from place to place based on atmosphere, altitude, and other factors. In fact, one of the biggest AFR leghumpers I know said he got as much as a 10CFM difference between two benches just a few miles apart. So if dry flow is only accurate to +/- 10CFM, that's a pretty wide deviation there. It's more about quality of air delivery, not just quantity. I believe dry flow is a flawed metric.

 

[BRUTAL64]

it`s not the castings it`s the finishing that makes power....

That is the way I feel. Just want to get as close as possible to do as little work as possible. :friends:


I ended up putting about 16 to 20 hours in the china heads. But, they do work good.

 

[guru]

Depending on what your intended RPM range the 220 upper limit might be too small

Just sayin.

 

[Jsup]

it`s not the castings it`s the finishing that makes power....

Yep, quality of delivery.

I ended up putting about 16 to 20 hours in the china heads. But, they do work good.

So would a lot of other heads, especially if you put that much time into it.

 

[BRUTAL64]

More to a head than a name brand. the volume measurement is irrelevant. What size cross sectional area do you need for how long? What is the appropriate minimum cross sectional area you need at what choke point? What is your power goal? what kind of RPMs are we talking here? Bore/stroke?

Personally I would be looking at a rons porting service 220cc head or the similiar head from M2 porting. All pro also has a 219cc ported head that would probably do the trick.

Brodix is going to have a raised runner oval port head in the 210cc range that will probably demolish all comers. Will the intake fit under the hood..... Probably not.

The All Pro AP220S flows every single bit as much as the AFR 227 heads. Its ridiculously expensive and you need a Stahl type header flange buy hey. You asked.

Haven't decided the specs yet.
It really depends on wheather I go 372 - 406 - or 427 SB. If I go BB then it will be a 496. Just wanted to know what you thought was a good head other than AFRs. Thanks for the input.:beer:

I'd say:

Brodix has numerous models.
Edlebrock Has numerous models
Dart Has one model
All Pro
Canfield
Patriot

To name a few.

Of course, what determines "better"? We don't know your criteria.

My argument, they're all the same, what logo do you like best? Being a head porter, you should be able to make any of these heads dance. Brodix and Dart seem to be piling up trophies and control their own castings. Both have a reputation of responding very well to porting. I'd lean that way.

In my older years now, it's harder for me to sit at my porting bench for 8 hours.
I'm going to clean up ANY head I get. Just don't want to do any more work than I need to. Actually Brodix and Canfield always were some of the ones I liked. Dart, unfortunately in it's early years, didn't have that good of an exhaust port and took some work to make right. So that sticks with me even now.
As far as AFR. Price is a little high and they make some flow number claims that I have seen backed up on a flow bench. But as always, I have an open mind.:beer:

Well, the good news is everyone has a fully CNC ported head. So, that would cut down your touch up time.

I don't put a lot of faith in dry flow numbers, as benches vary from place to place based on atmosphere, altitude, and other factors. In fact, one of the biggest AFR leghumpers I know said he got as much as a 10CFM difference between two benches just a few miles apart. So if dry flow is only accurate to +/- 10CFM, that's a pretty wide deviation there. It's more about quality of air delivery, not just quantity. I believe dry flow is a flawed metric.

The flow numbers are just a way for me to see where the strenght of the ports are. I can get the low lift numbers up with just with some seat and valve work. I like good mid numbers to start out with. Of, course these numbers only work if your cam lift fits in with the flow numbers provided. Everything is trade off. I just want to spend as little money as possible and put in as little time "fixing" the ports. The AFR flow numbers at mid lifts are higher than any claimed by other manufactures with the same or simular port cc.


:drink:

 

[gkz]

I have a correction to make.

I was wrong. I was given a cryptic message in one of those "you didn't hear it from me" type things. This person is in a position to know.

Dart does NOT cast AFR heads.

They are cast in china.

That is why they CNC everything because the bare castings are not all that accurate, and how they are able to sell cheap.

I screwed up on this one, sorry.

Here's the last message:

I was mentioning the possibility that Head "A" might get castings for the latest models from the same place that a lot of consumers get their lead paint laden kiddy toys from

So how can we tell which ones are cast here?

 

[Jsup]

I have a correction to make.

I was wrong. I was given a cryptic message in one of those "you didn't hear it from me" type things. This person is in a position to know.

Dart does NOT cast AFR heads.

They are cast in china.

That is why they CNC everything because the bare castings are not all that accurate, and how they are able to sell cheap.

I screwed up on this one, sorry.

Here's the last message:

I was mentioning the possibility that Head "A" might get castings for the latest models from the same place that a lot of consumers get their lead paint laden kiddy toys from

So how can we tell which ones are cast here?

As far as I have been told, none of the new stuff is.

 

[gkz]

I have a correction to make.

I was wrong. I was given a cryptic message in one of those "you didn't hear it from me" type things. This person is in a position to know.

Dart does NOT cast AFR heads.

They are cast in china.

That is why they CNC everything because the bare castings are not all that accurate, and how they are able to sell cheap.

I screwed up on this one, sorry.

Here's the last message:

I was mentioning the possibility that Head "A" might get castings for the latest models from the same place that a lot of consumers get their lead paint laden kiddy toys from

So how can we tell which ones are cast here?

As far as I have been told, none of the new stuff is.

Sorry I wasn't more clear; I didn't mean just AFR, I meant which heads (ie Dart, Brodix, Edlebrock, etc) are cast here in the US. This is a great thread considering I'm looking at purchasing some heads at the moment.

 

[guru]

Dart and Brodix off the top of my head.

Edelbrock claims made in the USA.

I expect all pro and or pro-filer as well

Found a new company called avenger but I cant find much about them, so I couldnt tell you.

 

[Jsup]

Sorry I wasn't more clear; I didn't mean just AFR, I meant which heads (ie Dart, Brodix, Edlebrock, etc) are cast here in the US. This is a great thread considering I'm looking at purchasing some heads at the moment.

Brodix, Edlebrock, and Dart are all cast in the US in their own foundries.

 

[gkz]

Sorry I wasn't more clear; I didn't mean just AFR, I meant which heads (ie Dart, Brodix, Edlebrock, etc) are cast here in the US. This is a great thread considering I'm looking at purchasing some heads at the moment.

Brodix, Edlebrock, and Dart are all cast in the US in their own foundries.

Thanks.:wink: