It's time to decide on a pair of aluminum heads for my 460 build.

I am planning a 460 bare block up build project to drop into my '79 F-350 SC 4x4. Naturally it will be a daily driver as well as focused on hauling heavy trailers fairly regularly.

I am attempting to make this general and informational reference for future readers with similar aluminum cylinder head questions.

I have been looking around and the contenders that I have found are the Ford Racing new and improved Super Cobra Jet heads, The Edelbrock Performer RPM heads, and the Blue Thunder heads. What are your opinions on these heads or others that I am unaware of. Thanks again for your time.

 

Well, I'll get a lot of flack about my choice but my Blue Thunders flow significantly better than anything I've worked with as far as stock Ford ports go (and I've done 4 sets this year). I did an older set of CJ's & practically removed the top of the port to get exhaust numbers even close to tolerable. The new SCJ's are better but the set here aren't THAT much better, even though everyone seems to think so. Haven't done any E-brocks but they don't look bad. As far as fit, function, & performance, unless I was squeezing all I could from a mill, I'd do the SCJ aluminum heads, headers will fit better than the BT's... it's a trade out for me. My 466 makes 717 on the dyno & I need all I can get. My opinion

 

The new SCJ's are much improved over the old CJ aluminum heads. It's not all about peak CFM on heads. The SCJ's are great performers. They make a lot of power. There is a lot more to making power than just max CFM at max lift. Jon Kaase did a ton of research on the new SCJ heads. The main reason why they make more power, (at perhaps less flow) than other heads is the revised valve locations and angles. They did a lot of work to move the valves away from the cylinder wall and optimize the valve angles. That's something that can make a huge difference when on an engine but won't be detectable on a flowbench. If it were me, I'd go with a set of SCJ's and just blend the bowls and maybe lightly port the exhaust, while trying to not change the shape of the port. If you are wanting to do some pulling then you don't want to go hog-wild and are going to be interested in torque. Go with a 521 stroker and keep the ports small and you'll have all the power you need.

JJ

 

Oh yeah... I forgot to include the Arao 32 valve heads. Sounds like they have a 385 series head at least close to being available. Hmmmm they look good... priced probably well over $5000 a pair... but wouldn't they be cool to have!

 

Not trying to get off of the subject, but when you use aluminum heads, does it tear up the head gasket? Because aluminum will expand faster than cast iron or steel, so when the engine is warming up, doesn't it tear the heck out of the head gasket?

 

The aluminum heads are going to probably blow head gaskets more often than iron heads. My 88 T bird had aluminum heads, I put a new head gasket in at 90,000 miles and at 175,000 miles and I guess it is still running good today.

 

The head gasket thing is true in theory, however, I've never heard of anyone having problems on 385 series engines with head gaskets due to using aluminum heads. I wouldn't let that influence my decision at all.

 

I've been running aluminum heads on 460's for 15 years & never blown a head gasket. Even liquid locked one at 7000 RPM once & broke an Eagle 3-D rod, but didn't blow a gasket!

 

So...... correct me if I'm wrong, but I've come to the understanding that for sub 5k torque the larger SCJ intake porting creates a poor mixture. Is there a set of aluminum heads made by anyone for the sub 5k application?

 

I'd say the ports on the CJ/SCJ are a little too big for low RPM torque in a 429. However, if you are talking a big inch engine it's a different story. 2000 RPM's in a 521 CID BBF is like 2500 RPM's in a 429. 3000 is like 3700 RPM's. As you can see you are moving a lot more air at lower RPM's in the bigger engine. I don't think you will lose any power by going to the bigger ports in a 460 or larger engine.