It's one of those stupid subtle things that don't matter very much. If you consider thermodynamic theory the amount of energy you can get from a heat engine is based on the minimum versus maximum operating temperature. Another way to explain it is that gasses expand with higher temperature. Higher cylinder temperature = higher cylinder pressure = more horsepower (ambient air temperature is fixed). As stated before, you can compensate by increasing the compression ratio.jerry S said:why is retaining heat anything to be desired? I thought one of the benefits of alum is that they don't retain heat.
brianj5600 said:Wow! Someone needs to tell al the racers that aluminum heads are inferior. Top fuelers use aluminum heads. They make more hp with one cylinder than any sbf on this forum. The only reason a race engine would run cast iron heads is if rules require it. I'm guessing every car in 24hrs of Daytona and Le Mans run aluminum heads. Every NASCAR engine has aluminum heads. These people have to finish races and would not use aluminum if there were durability problems. Duramax diesels use aluminum heads, which suprised me. Corvettes have used aluminum heads for the last 20 or so years. Need I go on. Durability has not been a problem for years. If you want to save money that is one thing, but I have not seen an iron head that would flow close to what is offered in aluminum.
The problem is that no one makes an iron heads with the same port design. The only good ones are "N" heads, but they use odd exhaust bolt patterns.rbohm said:as far as aluminum flowing better than cast iron, that is a load of bravo sierra. as long as the port design is the same, iron and aluminum heads will flow the same
Route666 said:Yeh I was going to reply again before and explain that the thread issue, warping issue, heat loss have been resolved or are negated by other benefits that aluminium bring, but I thought it would seem like more trying to get you to change your mind.
If you want iron heads, that's cool, it's different, and it's not all that big of a deal, except aluminium does weigh less, and it is hard to overcome just that advantage, in a performance sense. I would rather the best performing component, whether it be different or not, but that is me, and I (and everyone should) respect what you want, which is to have something a little different. Most people are into performance though, which is why everyone thinks you're crazy.
But if you look at the big picture, if you're REALLY that far into performance and not partially image, etc, then you wouldn't be using the classic Mustang to get the best performance, so even the performance guys on here are a little crazy.
65notch said:im aware of the weight difference, and i wouldnt get iron heads for the entire fact that they are different....they are cheaper, i can get a pretty killer set for around 1000 bucks which seems pretty good to me.
if i can buy even better cast iron heads for less, could i make up for some of the extra weight by creating more power?
brianj5600 said:The problem is that no one makes an iron heads with the same port design. The only good ones are "N" heads, but they use odd exhaust bolt patterns.
rbohm said:so no one makes iron heads with the same port design as aluminum? how wrong you are. the only difference between the windsor jr/sr and the windsor jr/sr lite heads is the lite heads are aluminum.
the windsor jr heads have the same port volume and design as the edelbrock performer rpm heads. the afr 185 heads are also similar, as they have only 14cc more port volume.
blkfrd said:I'd like to see aluminum heads made out of hypereutectic alloy if it's practical...and use hyper pistons. Then you'll really have an efficient combo that keeps most of the heat where it's needed to make power...in the chamber.
rbohm said:jerry s, the windsor jr heads actually have 171cc intake runners, the windsor sr heads have 185 cc runners. i have a set of jr's.