Aluminum Heads

[JimKueneman]

What is anyones long term experience on Aluminum Heads? Not talking performance I am talking reliability. Have they been trouble free in terms of head gaskets, intake/exhaust gaskets? Failures? Corrosion due to the old cast iron and the aluminum? Would you use them for a daily driver?

Thanks
Jim

 

[flyingfarley]

What is anyones long term experience on Aluminum Heads? Not talking performance I am talking reliability. Have they been trouble free in terms of head gaskets, intake/exhaust gaskets? Failures? Corrosion due to the old cast iron and the aluminum? Would you use them for a daily driver?

I have had four sets of edelbrock aluminum heads on different cars one set is from 2005 on a BB stock car that gets abused four five times a year, and has never had a head off....others are on street/hot rods...none are daily drivers...but in Florida they get a lot of use for car shows/cruises/ etc. The quality of the edelbrock brand seems great. My son has a set on his 492 cid B motor that has been beat on for about 8-9 years...even many track days on the road courses...with no problems .

 

[lewtot184]

I've been street driving a pair of edelbrock rpms about 6yrs. what I've noticed is they run a little cooler, the angle plugs are easier to change than straight plugs with headers, gasketing seems very reliable, they burn better than iron, but rocker geometry and push rod length makes them not a "true" bolt on in my opinion. would I use them again?,......yes. before I put the edelbrocks on I was running a very good set of iron heads (stage V's ported by Dwayne porter), but I don't think the edelbrocks made anymore power.

 

[68Charger440HP]

Hey Jim,

My experience with aluminum heads has been great but I will concede that my car is not my daily driver. I wouldn't have a problem using aluminum heads on a daily driver as long as the rest of car was built for that and components were matched accordingly. (Gears, cam, compression)

I've had aluminum heads for about two years now and have absolutely zero issues with any of the gaskets or corrosion. My dad's 69 Coronet RT has had aluminum heads since Edelbrock first released their big block heads probably close to 20 years now. His isn't a daily driver either but he's had them on much longer. His experience with aluminum heads is much the same as mine.

One thing you'll want to remember to do is put some anti-seize on any bolt, stud or spark plug that goes into the aluminum head. This will protect against corrosion and the possibility of something getting stuck in the head. You also want to use a composite style head gasket and not a steel shim one. This will affect your compression obviously as will switching to aluminum so you'll want to calculate your compression ratio based on the new head gasket and chamber cc's. Depending on the heads you choose, you might also need different length push rods.

It's a fun project though. Let us know if you decide to go aluminum!

Clayton

 

[747mopar]

What is anyones long term experience on Aluminum Heads? Not talking performance I am talking reliability. Have they been trouble free in terms of head gaskets, intake/exhaust gaskets? Failures? Corrosion due to the old cast iron and the aluminum? Would you use them for a daily driver?

Thanks
Jim

I'm still running iron heads with lots of work having been done to them which is where the cast iron heads can be a problem. I've always believed cast iron heads are a better bet for long life but with most having so many miles on them they require a lot of money to bring back up to snuff not to mention if your wanting to port them and add larger valves. It's common to need new valves, guides, valve job, springs, surfacing, cleaning, magnafluxed for cracks, etc $$$.

Aluminum heads have been used for decades now with no problems, originally they had head gasket issues but the gasket companies resolved that long ago. Aluminum heads offer benefits in getting rid of heat a lot faster making higher compression possible plus most are a significant improvement in performance.

If I had it to do again I would have bought aluminum heads given what it cost to do mine. I'd only consider cast iron if you had a really nice set that doesn't need much work.

 

[JimKueneman]

Bruce Toth has me almost convinced to order a set of his with stage II porting....

 

[Darter6]

16 years on a 451 stroker "B". No problems.

 

[Hemirunner]

Everything rolling off every assembly line has aluminum heads today. They run for hundreds of thousands of miles in some of the harshest conditions.

 

[lewtot184]

in my circumstance there wasn't much cost difference between good iron and alum. I think iron is easier to set up in some respects. alum is easier to set up for high valve lifts. there's some trade offs and either could be made to work for a street car. maximum performance would require alum. often over looked is the relationship between the top of the piston and the combustion chamber. keep in mind the top of the piston is actually the floor of the combustion chamber and either iron or alum they should match up.

 

[PRND21]

I’ve had Edelbrock heads since 2009. My experience is the same as lewtot and 68Charger. No problems, plugs a lot easier to change. All threaded holes are blind, no coolant leaks. Anti-seize is mandatory.

 

[Cranky]

My only experience with a daily driver with aluminum on it was a factory 2.2 Shadow. Got the car at 30k miles and when it hit 100k, it developed a coolant leak into a cylinder. It had been overheated a couple of times too.

 

[Billccm]

My only experience with a daily driver with aluminum on it was a factory 2.2 Shadow. Got the car at 30k miles and when it hit 100k, it developed a coolant leak into a cylinder. It had been overheated a couple of times too.

Hate to hijack the thread, but I've owned 4 2.2l turbo mopar, and head gasket replacement was a way of life with those cars. I don't believe the aluminum was the issue. Many subtle design flaws with that motor.
Bigger head bolts helped, but never really cured the issue.

 

[Cranky]

Hate to hijack the thread, but I've owned 4 2.2l turbo mopar, and head gasket replacement was a way of life with those cars. I don't believe the aluminum was the issue. Many subtle design flaws with that motor.
Bigger head bolts helped, but never really cured the issue.

Mine wasn't a turbo. Yeah, the turbo can put undue stress on a lot of stuff for sure but as much as I wanted a turbo on that gutless thing, I'm kinda glad it didn't have one lol

 

[65-440]

Eddy RPM's in my 340 dart for over 10yrs and still going strong. 440 source heads on my 383, 1.5yrs and 4k miles later and no issues ...

 

[JimKueneman]

The early days don't really count I think. They were figuring out head gasket materials.

 

[threewood]

Hate to hijack the thread, but I've owned 4 2.2l turbo mopar, and head gasket replacement was a way of life with those cars. I don't believe the aluminum was the issue. Many subtle design flaws with that motor.
Bigger head bolts helped, but never really cured the issue.

Yep. I had a few 2.2 amd a 2.5 turbo. Never had a headgasket leak though it was an issue with them. I also recall them being prone to splitting between valve seats because of how close they were. No water jacket incursion or leak issue but it did happen and was quite common.

 

[Billccm]

Not trying to hijack, but our mopar club had perfected the 2.2 head gasket swap. It took 3 people, a bungle cord, 5 zip ties, floor jack, and parts in hand. We could do the swap in less than 2 hours. I'll start a new thread if anyone's interested in the technique.

 

[threewood]

The early days don't really count I think. They were figuring out head gasket materials.

FWIW I have Cometic headgaskets on my 440 and they are holding up very well. Big plus for them is a wide range of thicknesses to get a good quench or c.r. The blind holes are very nice as well as weight savings and heat transfer. Remind me, are you using the stock intake? Do the Edelbrock heads have the heat crossover? Something to think about since you drive it in the colder months (even in AZ lol). I am curious if anyone is running sb aluminum heads with exhaust manifolds and how that plays out with the angled plugs....

 

[65-440]

Not trying to hijack, but our mopar club had perfected the 2.2 head gasket swap. It took 3 people, a bungle cord, 5 zip ties, floor jack, and parts in hand. We could do the swap in less than 2 hours. I'll start a new thread if anyone's interested in the technique.

Floor jack under the exhaust, jack the head up and swap gaskets .... that's the flat rate way !

 

[Larrry B.]

I'm still running iron heads with lots of work having been done to them which is where the cast iron heads can be a problem. I've always believed cast iron heads are a better bet for long life but with most having so many miles on them they require a lot of money to bring back up to snuff not to mention if your wanting to port them and add larger valves. It's common to need new valves, guides, valve job, springs, surfacing, cleaning, magnafluxed for cracks, etc $$$.

Aluminum heads have been used for decades now with no problems, originally they had head gasket issues but the gasket companies resolved that long ago. Aluminum heads offer benefits in getting rid of heat a lot faster making higher compression possible plus most are a significant improvement in performance.

If I had it to do again I would have bought aluminum heads given what it cost to do mine. I'd only consider cast iron if you had a really nice set that doesn't need much work.

I have iron heads on my 383, did everything I could do to them when I had the motor built years ago. All machine work; guides, seats, larger valves, dual springs, ported, biggest chunk $ wise on the build at the time. Done at a speed shop in Northridge, Ca. (http://www.valleyhead.com) known for it's head work. It was my intention to go with Edelbrock aluminum heads, shop head told me he could work up a pair just as good, so I said what the hell. Cars got pep.

I finally got that motor in my current project and will try to get it up on a dyno this year for some tuning, and some numbers. Part of me likes the fact I have factory heads, but when I go for the final push and pull it all apart to fix everything and put it all back together, I'd do myself a disservice if I didn't consider aluminum heads.