Aluminum Heads and Intake questions

[xlr8or]

I know many of the engine builders here do quite a bit of porting and such but for off the shelf heads for an FE motor who's are the best?? Why?

How do they compare?? Edelbrock, Shelby, Dove, others???

Which intake would you pick to go with them for a single 4 barrel that will still fit under the hood of a Kirkham?

I found a good deal on a running 428 that has iron heads on it now for the car I have on order. The guy has the build sheet on it and it's only bored .015 over has 10.5:1 pistons and a decent cam in it. If I buy it I want to switch to aluminum heads/intake and water pump.


Scott

[Sizzler]

Off the shelf, Edelbrock (bare) or Shelby.

Edelbrock has been faulted for bad springs and valve jobs out of the box, but if you buy the bare heads from them and have your own (competent) machinist do the valves and select the proper springs after consultation with your cam provider, you'll end up with a very reasonably priced set of heads.

Don't know too much about the Shelby heads EXCEPT that they're pretty dedicated to the 427 bore size which means you'll either have serious valve shrouding issues if not actual touching of the valves and cylinder walls. Also, they seem to have very large chambers which on your block would drop your compression ratio down if you could indeed get the valves to work within your bore. Otherwise, casting-wise, they're supposed to be excellent heads, though pricey.

Blue Thunder, who makes excellent castings of whatever they choose to produce, is supposed to be coming out with their own versions of FE heads and rumor is they'll outflow ported medium-risers and more. But the rumor is old, the flow of news is trickling down, so who really knows

Whichever aluminum head you go with, make sure you install spring cups, and use studs for mounting the rocker shafts.

Look up Blue Oval Performance, somewhere in Colorado, they can provide you with the heads, and better yet, a specially selected package of fasteners specific for your set of heads. First time; no callbacks about needing a short stud here...

[TerribleTed13]

Blue Oval Performance Engineering
3761 S Kalamath
Englewood CO. 80110 303-762-8298

[cobra]

Scott

ask George Anderson ( www.gessford.com ) and you are in the best hands.
Good luck,

Walter

[RobMcQuarie]

Sizzler and Ted, thanks for the plug guys. Most kind of you.

Scott, Just as Sizzler suggests, best bet is to buy the Edelbrocks bare and have a pro set them up-good quality components and machinework. They are good heads though, and a few $ more than the off-the-shelf ones and you'll have a very good piece.

Dove Heads, great potential, but you have to REALLY want them to be willing to go through all the hoops. Shelby heads are good quality, but you must have the 427 bore and be using the large combustion chamber.

The Blue Thunders are actually due very soon, but in very limited quantities to start with. We have a number of sets already pre-sold, and really look forward to getting them in hand. The pre-production casting looked real good, and all of the features in this new design are really going to set it apart. Still a little work left to do in final set up of these heads, but very soon....

I personally like the Blue Thunder 4V MR intake-best performing, best looking. Factory MR and Police Interceptor alum intakes come in right behind, followed by the Edelbrock RPM. All will fit under the hood.

Rob
Blue Oval Performance

[xlr8or]

Thanks for the input guys I appreciate it.

[Power Surge]

xlr8or, here's a little real world input on FE power and parts used...

I had a nice ERA on our dyno today, with a 427 side oiler. I don't know the cam specs, but it had out of the box Edelbrock heads, Ford MR intake, and a Holley 750. The car made 393 at the wheels. The nice thing about this car, is the engine was dynoed out of the car and made 430 on the engine dyno. Using a 10% drivetrain loss number through the toploader and jag rear, that gives you 387 at the wheels, so this car was almost right on the money (actually it started at 388, but we got a few hp out of it qith tuning). Hopefully this gives you a little info to go by.

[Anthony]

Rob, I had asked a question over there on the fe forum concerning that cobra you tested on the chassis dyno.

Did it have a dry sump?

You suspect high riser heads only from the hp made, or did the heads look taller?

http://www.network54.com/Forum/threa...eid=1089158556

Thanks.