Aluminum heads

[Kendall1214]

Ok so I'm debating aluminum heads or ported iron heads. Can anyone tell me how the Aluminum heads compare to ported iron heads? Ive been trying to contact champion to ask bout the heads and specs. And longevity of both comparative.

 

[TurboTnZ06]

I have alum GN1's, non race ported, with individual studded roller rockers, I like them. I haven't had the valve covers off in 5 years...

 

[TT/Ameasap]

It all depends on combo and how much you want to spend.

 

[Reggie West]

Aluminum heads are not as prone to detonation because they dissipate heat much better. They also flow more air than the irons, stock ones. The weight savings is helpful too.

I would recommend the TA heads over the Champion.

 

[robzombie]

How much better are the TA heads and why??

 

[Kendall1214]

Ive getting my short block built by Weber performance. It Well be. 020 over bore and stroked. Has headers intake is getting ported has ls1 mafs I got a dual ball bearing 6262 precision turbo 3 inch exhaust front mount intercooler alky injection kit. ..I'm also going to have 60# injectors

 

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

Tom at Champion heads has been quiet, I've tried to contact him with an email and attempted to leave a phone message, but his memory was full.
I've had several conversations with TA Performance over the last 2 weeks, so I would also steer you to them.

Chuck

 

[robzombie]

Ive getting my short block built by Weber performance. It Well be. 020 over bore and stroked. Has headers intake is getting ported has ls1 mafs I got a dual ball bearing 6262 precision turbo 3 inch exhaust front mount intercooler alky injection kit. ..I'm also going to have 60# injectors

Good luck with your Weber rebuild.

All I will say is that I'm having one that I bought with very low miles rebuilt right now because of something they overlooked [and caused some damage] when building the engine.

I got a great deal on it because of there mistake, hope yours is built right because you're paying full price.

 

[Mr.Spool]

Ive getting my short block built by Weber performance. It Well be. 020 over bore and stroked. Has headers intake is getting ported has ls1 mafs I got a dual ball bearing 6262 precision turbo 3 inch exhaust front mount intercooler alky injection kit. ..I'm also going to have 60# injectors

The 62/62 turbo will not outflow a ported iron head.the iron head on a street car is hard to beat

 

[Reggie West]

TA Street heads flow 247 on the intake side at .550 lift. Unported

Ported irons are around 209.

I can pick up the phone and have a set of TAs on my door in a week maybe two at the most. Or I can send my iron heads off and hope like hell I see them in 4 to 6 months. You choose.

I have ported iron heads on my car and they work well. I had those done 10 years ago now. What I describe above is no joke, if its my money I'm buying the TAs.

 

[robzombie]

TA Street heads flow 247 on the intake side at .550 lift. Unported

Ported irons are around 209.

I can pick up the phone and have a set of TAs on my door in a week maybe two at the most. Or I can send my iron heads off and hope like hell I see them in 4 to 6 months. You choose.

I have ported iron heads on my car and they work well. I had those done 10 years ago now. What I describe above is no joke, if its my money I'm buying the TAs.

I also have ported irons that seem to work well, they get me mid tens no problems.

For comparison sake do you know what the champion GN1 aluminum head flows???

 

[Mr.Spool]

Ok so I'm debating aluminum heads or ported iron iron heads run 9 sec 1/4s in my neck of the woods and are alot cheaper

 

[J-B Racing]

As an experienced head Porter I can tell you this by experience. If you are gonna run any Turbos from 70mm and smaller I recommend going with a good set of ported irons. they will flow faster and any turbo from stock to that very well. Aluminum heads will work better with Turbos 70mm and up because they will work better with more Air and higher boost levels. Now you gauge yourself with these barriers and choose where you are planning on going.

J

 

[Kendall1214]

So running a 62 mm and possibly upgrading later I should stick with ported irons over aluminum?

 

[bison]

The quickest and fastest passes (by about .4 and a couple mph) on a Buick with a 62mm inducer turbo were made with ported aluminum heads. The short block was stock. The turbo doesn't make power. It supports it. There's definitely an advantage to a properly set up pair of aluminum heads even with a small turbo.. Not that it can't be done with iron heads. It takes a little higher CR and a little different cam timing to get it done. If I had a choice I'd take a higher CR iron headed engine with a cam spec of my choice over aluminum heads thrown on an any engine. When the turbo is all in the CR and cam timing matter a lot more. For those that aren't running out of turbo larger port volume and higher flowing ports will increase cylinder fill a lot. Increasing cylinder fill at lower pressure ratios is very important because it allows the compressor to be driven with less energy to move the same mass of air. Exhaust pressure drops and it's a positive feedback loop. So anything that can be done to increase mass flow without increasing boost will typically make the car faster. TA SI heads need work on the exhaust out of the box. They come up fast with a little work but flow quite a bit less than an iron head that has been properly worked. TA heads are a huge value and with a little extra work will perform better than any iron head and will also save a good amount of weight. Don't be fooled into thinking aluminum heads will reduce detonation. It's possible they could reduce hot spots and pre-ignition but they will likely increase detonation if the same timing strategy is used relative to manifold pressure/rpm as iron heads. Especially shitty iron heads. Have seen quite a few of them over the years. I've also seen a lot of excess timing in the last few years with good heads. There's no point in being on the edge of the timing window chasing after a couple hp. You'd be better off increasing the mass flow through the engine.


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[Nick Micale]

As an experienced head Porter I can tell you this by experience. If you are gonna run any Turbos from 70mm and smaller I recommend going with a good set of ported irons. they will flow faster and any turbo from stock to that very well. Aluminum heads will work better with Turbos 70mm and up because they will work better with more Air and higher boost levels. Now you gauge yourself with these barriers and choose where you are planning on going.......J

I am not a head porter, but have installed hundreds of heads on turbo Buick engines and my experience does not support alum heads should be used only on 70mm and larger turbo in the sense you have stated?

Years ago we installed an out-of-box set of Champion GN-1 alum heads to determine how much could be gained. This was on a 3.8 stock build with ported iron heads running a TA-49 turbo, no other changes, and it consistently picked up 1/2 second in the 1/4 mile.

I recently replaced a set of max-ported iron with a set of TA alum heads with basic port clean-up on my T-R running a TE-45A, and this showed over one second improvement which equated to an additional 100 HP.

Like what Bison stated, there are many factors which affect power output along with well-ported heads and one important factor with the heads we consider is port velocity and flow ratio, along with cam selection, turbo, intercooler.

The bottom line is air+fuel=HP, alum heads provide better "air delivery", which means cooler and more dense air charge than iron heads at the same level of boost.

 

[J-B Racing]

Like what Bison stated, there are many factors which affect power output along with well-ported heads and one important factor with the heads we consider is port velocity and flow ratio, along with cam selection, turbo, intercooler.

This where it makes all the difference. In 07 I installed TA SE Heads with no change. From a Good set of irons I did ( 10.32 ) to Aluminums ( 10.22 ) was not worth the money at the time. Select wisely.

 

[Mr.Spool]

Years ago we installed an out-of-box set of Champion GN-1 alum heads to determine how much could be gained. This was on a 3.8 stock build with ported iron heads running a TA-49 turbo, no other changes, and it consistently picked up 1/2 second in the 1/4 mile.

1/2 second off the boost level it was at?how fast was this car?im very curious about this statement as ran 10's with a 49 years ago.

 

[SCOOBY DOO]

Nick...whose ported irons did you remove that you picked up the half second when you bolted on the GN'1's?

 

[TurboTnZ06]

When I switched from bowl ported irons to the GN1's, I was able to trap the same mph (125-127) with 10psi less boost. Same cam, same turbo, though with 18 more inches in displacement and with alky instead of race gas.