Life expectancy of Aluminum Heads

[Lawler]

I have the opportunity to upgrade the 2v cleveland heads on my 357 cleveland (currently being stroked to 408) in my lonestar to the new edlebrock aluminum heads. Are any of you running these heads on your cleveland and if so, are they as good as advertised...which would be as good as the Aussie heads?

Kinton

[767Jockey]

In a word, NO !!!! I did TONS of Cleveland research before finally pulling the engine from my car in favor of an FE. Personally I love the Cleveland, but there's a long story as to why I went with the FE.

Anyway, the Edelbrocks are TERRIBLE compared to the Aussie CHI and AFD heads. They're not even close. look at the flow numbers, look at all the Cleveland headed Windsor blocked "Clevors" that do so well in the Engine Masters competitions, - NONE use the Edelbrocks. Get on the phone with the guy from CHI. Email him in Aussie land and he'll call you on his dime - the guy is a wealth of knowledge, and you'll make TONS more HP with his heads or the AFD's over the Edelbrocks. Edelbrock makes some good heads, but their Cleveland product is sorely lacking. Beside, the Edelbrocks only come in a 2V configuration, and you'll want a 3V or a 4V for that big 408. Be careful in a Cobra with the 3V heads - most intakes available for this head are high rise and won't fit under the hood.

Also don't buy into the 30 year old myth that the 4V ports are too big and have no bottom end. The 408 will draw on those ports beautifully, and the ports in the modern heads are all redesigned. Between the two changes, both port design and engine size, throw a 408 under those 4V Aussie heads, toss in 10.5:1 compression, a good intake and carb and a large hydraulic roller, and you'll see 550HP+ all day long! Good luck, Clevelands are AWESOME!

[Lawler]

Thank You for the information. I sincerely appreciate it.

[cobrarkc]

I agree with Jockey on the CHI heads if you go to their website you can see the numbers. The 4V head uses all OEM style manifolds. I only have one thing to add to this about the Ebrock heads. I was talking to Keith Craft and he has a CNC program for them that will out flow the CHI heads. CHI-325cfm KC-340cfm I believe they will run you about $2500 vs. the CHI $2200 you will have to call him or email. Either head will cook under that 408.

[Lawler]

Kieth Craft hmmm... Good information. Thanks cobrarkc. Much appreciated.

Kinton