AFR , Dart, Brodix...whats your favorite, and why?

 

Actually, out of the box you cant draw too many differences between an AFR190, Brodix Track 1, and a Dart Pro 1 head. It is what you have done to them after the fact that determines how well they work. People have had success with all of those listed above too.

I have a set of out of the box AFR190's and they seem to be working well for me after 4 years of service.

 

Thanks Guido!

If you were doing it over, would you stick with the 190s or go
larger?

 

I am about to replace my 200cc Dart Iron Eagles with a set of AFR 190 heads on my blown 78 Malibu.

The Dart heads (aluminum and cast iron versions) have good E/I flow ratios (approaching 80%) but so do the AFRs (they are at 80% on the 190s) and they outflow the Dart heads by about 25 CFM to boot. High E/I flow ratios are good choices for a boosted motor.

I like the Iron Eagles just fine- they're good heads as would be their aluminum cousins the Pro 1s. No major complaints and they are pretty cheap if you buy them bare and assemble with your own parts.

However, mainly, I am buying the AFRs because I want aluminum heads. And if I'm gonna be a bear......... be a Grizzly. Not that there aren't better heads than the AFR but I haven't heard anyone say they were unhappy with theirs and plenty of people swear by them. For a ~$1000 set of aluminum heads they look like a good choice to me, so I'm going to give them a try.

 

Id almost pick the 190's but purchase them unassembled. The place i had my engine machined looked at the heads and said they use cheap valves for someone planning on making near 1000hp.

This is a pipe dream, but Id like to get an 8 second timeslip and if I have to put a 91mm thumper on, I will. Along with a set of good valves and valve job and leave the heads the same. Just to see how far I can go with them. hahahahahahaha

seriously though, for a well built 406, a set of 210's or 220's would suffice.

 

Guido, your right. THe valves they put in the 190s are cheap ones. I called them and they said the valves in the 190 heads were not meant for our applications. The heat will kill them the guy said. But he also said that the valves they put in the 210/220 heads would be fine. They use a much better valve in those heads. So i'd go with a set of the 210s if you were wanting to do it right the first time. And if you got some extra cash, get them with the competition port job. It'll give you a few more cfm.

 

Some interesting reading here:

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=134637

 

now why wouldn't the larger intake ports help in a turbo application? i see this I/E ratio, what is that?

later

andrew

 

I'd give a serious look at the Brodix 18* heads. 89ProchargedROC mentioned them in the other thread as well. They use standard 23* hardware and are not much more than a set of Track 1's.

-Matt

 

Yeah, If I were to do it again I'd go with an 18 degree head. A 23 degree heads simply can't match the flow capabilities of a 18 degree heads.

As far as out of the box 23 degree heads go I think AFR has the best idea going. I like the idea of CNC porting to ensure that the head they tested in the magazine is the same as the one that makes it to my door. The as cast heads seem like a bit of an unknown...

IMO if youre going to have porting done the choice becomes more or less moot for heads in the same category, with the only exception if your head porter has a preference.

 

the brodix 18* heads aren't the best, but they are pretty darn good

Just know the exhaust flange is gonna be different and you are going to have to deal with that

 

don't forget the intake manifold either....

 

good call

you'd more than likely have to use brodix's intake and have it converted to fuel injection

 

here is the intake conversion

http://www.force-efi.com/machefi.htm

 

Sounds good, but that's been a debate on the local f-body list. Although there is no debating that they make good power, every single local guy that has bought a set has had them flow benched and none of them have flowed what AFR advertizes (most about 20cfm lower), probably 6 or 7 sets now. 2 of them ended up with funky oil consuption problems which at least one traced down to one of the intake runners cut paper thin and ending up with a vacuum leak into the intake sucking oil out of the valley.

 

E/I flow ratio is the ratio of what the exhust port flows versus what the intake flows as a percentage.

Getting air into the motor is important but so is getting it back out again on the exhaust stroke. Boosted motors have help getting the intake in, obviously, but the exhaust side is still doing it's job just like on a non-boosted motor.

On a N/A motor a well "balanced" head will have about 70-75% E/I flow ratio. On a blown motor you'll want it closer to 80%. Having a cam with more exhaust duration than intake duration is a good idea on a blown motor, too, but it's only going to make up for so much if the exhaust port (and everything downstream of it) doesn't flow well.