Maybe this is a no brainer but gotta ask, which is better, I've heard that as far as pure hp is concerned the darts are the way to go but the downside is that they are aluminum and will run cooler, so is it better than to port the merc heads, thanks

I believe the Dart "Iron" Eagle head is cast iron. The Dart Pro series are Aluminum.

+1

Oops my bad your right....meant to put dart pro..

Personally. ...I'd run the aluminum heads. You'll save a bunch of weight, and they're easily repairable if something happens to them.

My GM heads had cracks around the exhaust seats,
I went with Iron Eagles mainly because I didn't want to
fuk up the center of gravity of the boat. ( straight v bottom)

I had Dean Gellner Build me a couple of sets.

Just curious how would the heads affect the center of gravity?

Straight v hulls generally need to be able to carry
the bow for max. speed.

Taking weight out of the rear of the boat doesnt
help this ability, and in my case it was 2 sets of heads.

With aluminum heads you are able to run a little higher compression cause the aluminum dissipates heat faster and will be less prone to detonation. Pretty much all the higher HP engines run aluminum heads. Also they can be repaired if you have a major disaster. I just saw JimV weld up a set of heads that looked completely destroyed. If you are looking for a set of Dart call JimV and he will set you up. He knows everything about Marine heads.

will you have to change tstat....or are we only talking a few degrees of engine temp