Aluminum heads
 

So...

A friends brother... Who knows this guy... Who has a friend... That builds marine engines... Says that I shouldn't use aluminum heads in my engine that I'm building....

I'm building a 383 for my boat. My desire is to use these heads https://m.summitracing.com/parts/drt-127211

My friend says he's a knowledgeable guy... And says his guy thinks aluminum heads will warp in a mercruiser engine...

It's a 21 foot boat...

It's a closed cooling system...

Thoughts?

Tell him they were putting Aluminum Heads on Flathead Fords many, many years ago..:cool-smiley-011:

Ayuh,.... Many of Us are goin' to disagree with that guy,....

that's a Nice set of heads for a closed coolin' boat motor,....

The SHP's are Dart's answer to the low buck chinese heads out there. Why are they cheaper ? Simple...old technology. IE: Old port and comb chamber designs from years back.

Both are a lower cost solution for those that want to be able to tell people they have aluminum heads on there engines, and again, staying away from Chinese castings.

That said, yes, better performance than standard cast iron heads...but, for a few dollars more, there is much better performance available. $1100-$1200 assembled for pair. Profiler, Brodix IK, and Trick Flow to name a few.

Your friends- friend is warped

I have edelbrock aluminum heads on my 502,zero problems

300 hrs on AFR's no problem yet.

You need to tell your ex's cousin Jim Bob to put the crescent wrench down and back away from your motors.

Along with the left handed screwdriver.

In this case do you think that he'd be ok using assembled heads, or should he build/rebuild them from scratch like the rest of us have been doing?

With a closed cooling system any alum. head will be fine. It won't know if it is on a boat or car motor. As far as performance goes that will take a little research to get the best bang for the buck.

Only thing that is aluminum that risks being warped or bent in a boat is beer cans. But, those usually get crushed.

Lmao...!!!!

i have seen a few alum props get some abuse...

Thats not abuse, its custom lab work by amateurs.......

thanxs... thats what I tought... i know bouat motors work hard but couldnt see any reason not to use them...

and yeah...I picked these heads because they should get me to my goal of 360hp and save me some weight. also want to pick my valves and springs so I went with bare heads.

Im not going to argue that they are not the best performing...but they are better than vortec heads...and there aluminum...at the cost they are the most affordable bare heads that arent Chinese.

I dont want aluminum heads for bragging rights... although I prolly will bragg about them haha... I want aluminum mostly for the weight savings. I have this dream that with aluminum parts my 383 wont weigh anymore than the 4.3 thats in there now... a dream that gets more unlikely as I add more and more forged shiny stuff to the engine haha

these heads should get me past 400hp at a later date... or more. I like the idea of having some good parts that I can use later down the road for another boat...truck...car or whatever. better heads will perform better I know but prolly put me past what my tiny littly alpha drive can handle lol

thats why I picked bare heads... I want to chose springs and valves and keepers... still trying to decide if I need to fork over the dough for inconel...

good for a little added compression also. Dissipate heat far better than cast. !!

That would be a very good idea. Pretty much required in a high perf marine engine.

with closed cooling they will be fine...

I thought it was modern art. I have a brother-in-law that makes one everytime he goes out. I've seen some that I think he had to put it in reverse to go forward.