AFR Heads or Reshape/rebuild
 

If you are looking to ad horsepower you could buy some afr/brodix heads, but what I wanted to know from someone with the experience with building engines is:
is it possible to pull your heads and then send them to a head wizard for him to modify them and make them as good as AFR/Brodix heads or better.

I am not sure what heads I have but they are not stock, will pull them to get more information.Main thing I want to know is if if like carburetors you can rebuild and make better -can you do the same with heads??

Yes.

Depending on what they are and what they are going on will determine if it is worth it or not.

When I was where you are my head wizards said, in order of performance
1) my stock 781's (iron)
2) "Bolt on" AFR 265's (alum) ($2,000 investment)
3) Re-worked 781's ($2,000 investment)
4) re-worked bare AFR 265's ($3,000-$3,500 investment).
I went with option #3

All depends what you are starting with and what the goals are...

And thats if you have a really good head guy... with the average head guy you are going to spend a lot having the stock heads freshened and ported etc... getting you close to the price pointof decent entry level aftermarket heads that most likely flow better out of the box than the average head guys ported stock heads. Of course the aftermarket heads can go up from there....

If your looking for a magical 10 mph or a 200hp out of a set of heads it ain't gonna happen, you need a complete package put together, O ya and then there's exhaust. IMO if you spend any money on heads buy the latest technology instead of dumping cash in 20 yr old heads

like

Boost....best bang for the buck out there... lol

double post.

Tho other disadvantage to 20 to 30 year old heads. Rot. They have water cooled exhaust valve guides. Means very little iron between cooling system and exhaust ports. Almost all rectangle heads after 1971 were marine. They didn't use them in trucks or police cars. I have a set of ported 781's came with my pantera. 20 years in the Hudson River and 15 years sitting dry. I can scrape 1/4 inch thick flakes off inside the water jackets. I can't scrap them, though I did scrap the block, but I don't dare ever run them. And they stopped using real ovals in trucks in the mid to late 70's and they are almost all peanuts. So any ovals you find that did spend their lives with antifreeze need guides and seats.

People make out like you can just snap your fingers and a peanut port 454 marine engine will make 500 horse. Doesnt matter what you see in a car magazine its not happenin without a lot of work

LOL.

OP still hasn't given us any engine and boat info nor any performance wants/wishes....so what is all the discussions about ?

To give you the details is hard now because the engine is still together. But if I could post a picture you will see these are built motors, they have blowers. 572 ci blocks.Very clean and freshly painted but the work was done 5 years ago (50 hrs),it was in storage for 5 years and I am thinking to refresh but juice the heads the most I can and be reliable. The motors have 800 hp but for fresh built 572 with blowers I think there should be more power and I am willing to upgrade things. I am still deciding to go with the blowers it came with or change everything to procharger.

What blowers ? and what block was used for the 572's......do you know what the compression is

With superchargers (I assume roots?) I don't think you are going to see a lot of bang for the buck sinking $ into heads. You may already have good heads seeing that it is a 572, I wouldnt think it would have standard 088s on it. Be careful with prochargers, if you are really running hard they can and will throw belts. Sounds low on HP for a blown 572, I would think you would be money ahead finding what the cam specs, boost and compression are, then go from there...may be as simple as a pulley change and tuning.

I wish I knew how to put a picture, it asks for a link to the picture but the picture is here on the desktop not the internet.
I have to get the information about the compression and I will post it.The other things I will have to ask the old owner for the cam specs and what kind of block it is

But the cam sounds like a good place to look and if it does not have roller rockers I will add that- but probably does. But the engines does seem to be low in power for being a 50 hour rebuild 572 with roots blower

if u upgrade you're membership you can post jpegs

real blowers blow prochargers away in a boat. sounds like a pretty decent setup already. do a compression and leakdown test. replace the valve springs. you can post pics with a photobucket acct if you don't wanna pay for upgraded membership. it sounds like you haven't run this boat yet. anything close to 1600 hp should get your weenie hard when you hit the gas. get him on the water and decide if you need more power after you see and enjoy what you have...

Yes I am going to run it like that for some time maybe 40-50 hours then pull the engines apart because I do want to improve things , like a nervous tick have to play with things. But if you wanted to send your heads to a wizard to make them at 100% of their capacity what shop is a good option ??

Where are you?

Oh, I should have connected the dots. This is that 38 ocean express cat you just got. I guess it is coming to you as deck cargo on a ship? Everybody and his brother is gonna want to come to you to upgrade that boat. You won't have to ship nothing nowhere...

for what it's worth... I know a cylinder head guy!!! :nicethread:

Who is it??

hi. sounds like you are into some big fun. your inbox is full.

ok try again