I've seen this argument spin around & around here & on other forums. Granted, I think that sometimes (IMHO) there is too much grumpy old man stuff on this sub-forum…on the other hand (and I'm 66) there is some good advice on this thread. Aluminum heads on pre-LS sbc motors? GM it started to happen in the 80's, first with race-purposed motors and then in production with the 86 Vette. I think most will agree that this approach didn't achieve real success until the first LS engines. Both Hotrod Lincoln & coilover have some good advice on some cautions regarding the use of aluminum heads on 1st gen (or iron Vortec) SBCs. Reliability with aluminum castings was finally addressed with the LS series in a computer designed & managed system as coilover described - something that was not done with 60s-80s motors. If you want reliability with power, you can get 400hp or more building up a crate with iron heads. You can read a lot about the history & get good advice on building up SBCs on the superchevy.com website. I generally followed some of their builds of crates to develop mine…
…I went to 325-335hp with a crate by massaging the heads & changing out the cam & valve train (plus headers & some other things). With a more aggressive cam and more head work or working up some Dart cast iron heads, I probably could have easily approached 400hp, but I've owned/driven enough vintage GMs with 300-375hp sbcs & it's enough for me. I get good gas mileage (on regular) & terrific acceleration. This is thanks to a motor that peaks without having to rev the [censored] out of it - that's because it's matched to a tranny & rear end made for this type of work. Things like power curves & gearing matter a LOT - but many ignore that.
…then again, I've found that bigger numbers or claims of being the fastest gets the most interest/attention…Have you gone 100mph in your modded AD? …not for the faint of heart or something I recommend…My .02 worth.
Last edited by Hilltown; 01/07/2016 6:17 AM.
