That's what I do but a different way. I trailer just a few hundred yards to the ramp from my house. :) I do a warm up on the trailer at home so I can just drop and go. Very busy ramp with no dock.

Same here. Always nice to drop and roll and with no surprises. I've seen a lot of some pretty messed up chit go on at ramps. Shovel fights, golf clubs, you name it. Years ago I'd get into it now I just crack another beer.

efi,,put boat in water,,start and leave,,warm up on the ride out.unless you and your 2 good buddies decide to run the bay just before winter.man that was alot of fun.

That's exactly why my boat sits on a lift. Push a button and in the water the boat goes. No boat launch drama.

Before I leave the house, the batteries get a quick check/ charge. The engine gets started and warmed up, drive gets greased (old boat had grease fittings all over the drive) trailer tires get aired up if need be.
Overall visual check and a couple times a season the timing light comes out for a quick check (how I found out my old MSD distributor was corroded beyond belief )

I like to dunk and go!

It is quite a bit of fun to watch a public boat launch on a busy day. (Especially jet ski owners)

Plus I know when your on the water. It's what got me back into boating. Good, bad, indifferent. Back in the game. Lol

John, were do you guys normally boat at ?

A lot of myths with aluminum heads... we did a swap in the past but tested by MPH and ET... engine was in car. Everything being fairly equal we actually ran the same MPH but a bit better ET... long story short the engine did take another 2 degrees of timing until MPH flattened out. Result was 2mph and .15. Was on a 10.50's car. So this shows the weight savings was worth more than the power. We feel overall it's making about same amount of power but took another 2 degrees timing to get there.

biggest advantage to aluminum is weight and ability to repair them.

And porting costs

And cheaper to manufacture

Don't forget shipping cost.

Soooo... what are we looking at here? As it seems everything I thought I knew about alum heads is wrong. Do I want promaxxs or something like EQ's? THe cost difference seems negligible between, getting them both bare and having them set up.

Call valako 616-889-0028. A true professional and artist when it comes to heads. That's all he's ever done and loves to make power.

I know he's ported and flowed just about every head on the market including EQs and uses the them on builds also. Just depends on what his customer is looking for.

If the price is close to the same why would you want iron? Repairing is difficult and expensive if even possible, they are way heavier, porting is going to cost way more, I just don't see any advantages. Aluminum is very ridged so I don't buy that it makes the block stiffer. Sterling uses aluminum heads on their twin turbo 1800 hp engine. I'm sure they know a thing or two about heads.

Nothing against Valako, and I am sure he is very good at heads... But isn't this a simple question on a simple build and I am looking for basic explanation and advice that should be available here. THis should be a basic combination that has been done by many here for the last 10-15 years. I dont need a custom cam, or majorly worked heads. It should be a basic bolt together combo (after checking things) as I learn and build my first motor.

I see it as Im building a cheese burger, I shouldnt need organic, non gmo exotic ingredients And I shouldn't need to call Chef Bobby Fley for advice. I m just looking for some grilling tips from they guys I drink beer with in that back yard...

I hope that makes sense and doesn't seem argumentative, its not meant to be. In my eyes I see a lot of the problems that crop up stemming from somebody trying to make a cheese burger and getting all gourmet, ending up with ingredients that dont mesh.

I dnt mean to derail this whole thread so I will start another one...

With your build you could go either way. Just depends on if you want aluminum or iron. Your not building anything exotic or trying to squeeze every bit of HP you can so I'd just go iron.

Btw in regards to comparing cheeseburgers be careful. I here Burger King uses horse meant. Just sayin...

Phragle, Ive had the 454 cheeseburgers. for quite some time too. Ive had it with 177 blowers, 250 blowers, 420 blowers, intercoolers, not intercooled, aluminum heads, iron heads, msd igntions, crane ignitions, daytona ignitions, composition head gaskets, mls head gaskets, gm rods, manley rods, crane rockers, comp steel rockers, .080 wall pushrods, .135 pushrods, comp cams lifters, morel lifters, 8:1 static, 9:1 static, 4 lbs boost, 6lbs, 7 lbs, 9lbs, and so on.

I havent had to do any repairs to the heads, from a damage standpoint. I did have to replace the valve seats in the dart alum heads, and they were sunk in pretty good over time. After 15 years of freshwater only use, the aluminum heads were getting pretty corroded. They also had some brinneling going on.

My choice to go iron, was simple. They would suit my performance goals, be durable, and not cost a chit ton. At the time, the only heads that were comparable performance wise in aluminum, were darts, afrs, etc. A bare set of afr 305s or 325s, were in the 2500 a pair bare price range. A set of the EQ heads, were under 900 delivered to my door. Thats 1600 bucks, x2, is 3200 dollars. I could do alot with 3200 bucks.

I wasn't too concerned with weight. The iron heads do add 70lbs per engine over aluminum. I even went further. I added iron heads, and intercoolers, and big gaffrig mufflers. Easily added 250-300 lbs to my stern. Didnt seem to hurt me much, considering im going a solid 8+mph faster, with 250 more lbs, another water pickup dragging thru water, and knocked a full point of static out of the engines.

The promaxx heads, are interesting , as the cost is good!

As far as sterling using alum heads on their big power engines, that is def true. As well as lot of big power engines using aluminum heads. One thing to consider, i dont know how many iron head castings are out there that will support 1800hp. Like iron big chief heads, etc.

I think its mostly personal preference. Either head will work on your engines. Mercury used iron heads on the 525sc, 575sci, 600sc, 800sc, and they worked fine, and lasted many years. They do use aluminum heads on the 525, 700sci, etc now, but they also have closed cooling.

What valve seats come in the promaxx heads ?

Ductile iron seats.

Very informative article here. Seems there are several more advantages to aluminum besides weight and the ability to repair them easier....

Did anyone read this? Guess I'm more partial to aluminum....

Each head has been proven to make power, (cast an aluminum) time and time again.

It is a good to the point article. Running aluminum for me is what Jim suggested. What particular ones he really didn't care. Dart, profiler whatever. Just said what ones to stay away from. He knows the way I run my boats, cars etc. The promaxx was just let's do it for chits and grins cause of what he discovered at the PRI show along with rookie. I've never questioned Jims recommendations. If they weren't what they turned out to be or will be no real big deal. The thread was basically to let others know the good bad and indifferent along with flow numbers. To be honest I'm very flexible other than just want to get as much as I can out of my builds within reason. If the heads are what Jim says they are and flow anything close to a cnc AFR 315 I'd be happy. Time will tell but will continue to post just for others who have interest.

One thing I know for sure is I know my engines could careless what name is on the heads. They just need to perform and make power all the way through and take me to 6k.

332's :)

You know I do that to stop you momentarily in your tracks each time right ? It's fun to do. LOL. :evilb::lolhit:

I have read that.

When educating myself, I try to read articles, but also try to see how it relates to what I am doing in real life. When for years, I've seen guys running supercharged IRON headed engines, without issue in offshore boats, I kinda use that to further my agenda. Im not running a street car, bracket car, 1800hp twin turbo, a blown alky engine, or a dirt racer.

I've seen iron headed engines come from builders like Mercury racing, Richie Zul, Sterling, Teague, etc. Most of the time, that was because of salt water useage. And up until recently, the only decent performing aftermarket BBC iron head, was the Dart Iron Eagles. In the aluminum variety, there are tons more options for an engine builder. The GM castings were poor performing, and the Merlins were not much better out of the box.

Also, its very rare that someone runs a big power engine, and routinely tears down there engines and inspects the components after changes have been made. Hell, many of them, grenede long before normal wear and tear can be inspected. Like valve seat recession, and so on.

Mercury racing, general motors, Teague marine, many industrial engines, etc have moved away from ductile iron valve seats, due to the longevity issues. I personally, would rather get a cylinder head, with at minimum, a powder metal seat, or replace the ductile seats with tungsten tucker seats, if you are looking for something you can log 300+ hours on, and not have exhaust valves leaking like an old faucet. Especally , on forced induction engines , or engines running camshafts that set the valve down on the seat like a jackhammer.

.200 158
.300 240
.400 303
.500 361
.600 406
.700 440
.800 449
.900 456

Those are intake numbers from a fully ported set of EQ iron heads, ported by Chad Speier . Those are some dam good flow numbers from a conventional iron head. Those truck pull guys, make some big power with those heads.

Do you have unported numbers?

I do. I posted them in my engine quest head thread,. There were flow numbers from my head guy that did my heads, scott foxwell, and another oso member that had jim valako flow them.

Are those the 360cc head flow #'s?

I would put money on it,

Yes , he started with the 360 casting on that project. Also has a 2.350 intake valve.

Ive got some flow data from some fully ported 320 castings, and they go well over 400cfm as well.

Quite a few have cnc programs for those castings

The seats are probably hanging on the wall by know. That's the whole beauty of not ordered bolt on ready heads. Nice to have your head guy assemble with what he knows works and last. I just pay the bill and don't look back or think about it.

Should be post some 440 cc runner numbers next. Lol.

Getrdunn, i was thinking about your build today while riding the fat guy recumbent bike at the gym. :)

I kept thinking about how you and Jim are pretty tight. Ive seen you guys that know jim well, mention his own 565ci bbc that he runs in his boat. If i recall , it made 800hp by 6000rpm with a cam similar to a 741, and has lasted many hours and been ran hard and put away wet.

To me, that sounds nothing short of an amazing feat. So with that being said, and you building a 565, why on earth would you want anything different ? It seems that the small cam, 6000rpm peak, fits exactly what you are looking for.

I mean, if my buddy had a pair of 468s making 1000hp with xxx combo, and has ran for a long time with no issues, id want what he has, instead of my 800hp versions.

Just curious. Most guys are listening to ac/dc at the gym, im listening to dart university and brian tooley interviews on my headphones, or thinking about oso engine builds. I need an intervention soon lol

I think they were in the 370 somethin range after porting. They started as 358cc. Ill find out

I believe that head has a 395 CC ported intake runner. You would need a serious engine to run that head.

Yes. Chad just replied to me on FB. 395cc.

My point , was that everyone seems to think, iron heads are "budget" low performance castings with minimal potential.

In those truck pull classes, they are looking to make big power, and an iron casting is madated by the rules. You simply arent gonna make the power, with a set of 300cc ports and a 741 cam when looking for 1000hp thru a single carb, especially if cubic inch limited to less than 500ci in some classes

Wished I had time for the gym but busy doing hard work and making things happen and have a lot in the works.

Jim v and I aren't best of friends by any means however would definitely consider him a good friend and have know each other since 1988 and kept in touch ever since and send a lot of people his way. He actusllly taught me a lot over the years.

You must have missed a post somewhere..... I am using his same grind. He and I talked about it the other day.

Btw

MT if you look at the thread heading it had absolutely nothing to do with debates over aluminum vs cast iron and what people think etc. Its just a simple promaxx 320 quality and flow thread.

Are the promaxx's you guys have the new ones or the old ones?