Dart Iron Eagles and TFS 23 Deg. heads cost within five dollars of each other in Summit. The Darts have 64cc chambers, 200cc intake runners and are assembled. The Trick Flows are the same, but the chambers are 195cc. The application is a fairly wild 355 that will be on the bottle. Which of these heads will make more power? Which would be more reliable with the nitrous? Any other comments? Thanks!

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'89 Firebird Formula 350
L98, WS6, Red/grey, t-tops, and a 3.27:1 rear
K&N, TB bypass, no MAF screens, CAI, full Accel ignition, no cats, Hooker Supercomp shorties, Hooker 3-inch catback
ET? 14.19@98.9mph (G-tech)
(Corrected for G-tech 'extra' 6mph)
Also own '83 Firebird 2.8 2bbl. 155K miles.
ET? Break out the calendar!

 

go for the head that offers the best exhaust flow with NOS. HP would probably be within 10 of each other. Make sure they both have the same spring sizes for that price.

 

I doubt that I will use the springs that come with the heads anyway. I would rather replace the ones that come on the heads with springs that best suit the cam I use. Thanks, Ill check into the exhaust flow on them both.

 

To the top

 

Since the two are close to design and stuff, I'd say to go with the Trick Flows just cuz they're aluminum and will give you some weight savings as a bonus.

Nate

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1988 Camaro Sport Coupe

• Custom Interior
• K&N Air Filter
• Shift Improver Kit

Homepage: www.rsdragster.cz28.com

 

I would never consider weight savings as a factor when selecting heads. A trick with a lot of the Turbo Buick guys is to switch the front metal bumper to a fiberglass one with the steel bumper support to aluminum, which total is about 100lbs. You get a weight saving of about 80lbs with going from a cast iron to aluminum heads. I know of few Turbo Buick guys who have done this and have reported consistent one tenth of a second gains. One tenth of a second can easily be made up with the right tuning.
I’ve used both heads and both heads are very good heads choices. The TFS do flow better than the Dart Iron Eagles out the box. I have seen Dart Iron Eagles fully ported flow in the 260-280CFM ranges.
Something to think about, cast iron retains heat a lot better than aluminum. Aluminum heads act as a heat sink and takes heat away. Is this a good thing? Not really. You want heat to stay in the combustion chamber, not get it taken away. Cast iron heads are just thermally superior than aluminum heads. That is why general rule of thumb is to run about one compression ratio higher when using aluminum heads.
Cast iron is more durable and is less prone to warping when the motor is over heated.
If you want to run the cylinder heads out the box, go with the TFS. If you’re going to have porting done, either will work.


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N/A 406, TPIS Miniram, 58mm TB, 30lbs injectors, Custom Ground Elgin Cam, Ported TFS heads, SLP 1-3/4", & DFI computer.
11.70@117mph

 

Good points Fast Life. Since you seem to have far more experience than me, i just want to bring up some points about what you said, but am not criticizing you or saying your wrong. First, isnt it that your not 'losing' all your heat from around the combustion chambers because of aluminum heads, but just disapaiting heat in the heads quicker? I was under the impression that you can run one point more compression, not because the engine runs cooler necessarily, but because it wont hold heat and tend to cause detonation as easily. Like you said, i would not decide on heads soley because their aluminum or not, but it is a big +. I've heard excellent things about Dart heads, but considering that both heads are pretty comperable, I would use aluminum to be the deciding factor. just my 2c

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• 83 Z28-- not a pretty site to look at, 200k miles and im sure it was treated like a rental car every day of its sad life(before i got it).. sold, thank the lord
• 74 Z28-- 383/400, green on black. pretty clean. FOR SALE!!!

 

If you go with the Iron Eagles get them from a place called aerohead. They have ads in the back of HotRod and Super Chevy. A friend just got some with springs, screw in studs and guide plates for the same price as Summit or Jegs wants without studs or guide plates.

 

I doubt very seriously the added power the heat retention may give the iron heads can make up for the additional compression you can run, weight saving advantage, and the “extra” porting per dollar (easier to port) of the aluminum. Many years ago I went with iron over aluminum with my first real set of performance heads, for many of the same points Fast Life and others have made. However, many years later,, I’ve gotten over what I feel was an unwarranted fear of running aluminum heads on a daily driver. I’ve never had a single problem, nor has any engine I’ve ever built had an “aluminum” related problem,, although I do admit to installing (and suggesting) an idiot light to come on just in case of a cooling related problem. Your cooling system should be up to par regardless of iron or aluminum,, if it’s not you should not buy either head.

You didn’t ask, but if you want to run a set of heads right out of the box,, before I’d buy a set of TFS assembled at $850,, and bought new springs at $75, I’d look into spending $75 more on a set of Canfields. Check them out at http://www.canfieldheads.com/sbc.html . Jegs sells these heads complete for $1000 a set www.jegs.com – keyword Canfield. Based on personal experience they come very close to the performance the race ready 195 AFR deliver.

 

I bought BARE Iron Eagles and assembled them myself in my basement one evening. Unlike other brands of heads you can save quite a bit of money by buying the valves, springs, etc. yourself and assembling. AFR will only give you about $150 credit if you order their heads bare!

In my Iron Eagles (200cc, 72cc chambers) I went with top-of-the-line Manley race-flo stainless valves, the exact springs recommended by my cam manufacturer and appropriate retainers and locks. End result was a BETTER assembly than the factory assembled Iron Eagles, the exact springs needed for my application (which I further shimmed to exactly the correct installed height) and about $100 savings versus fully assembled heads.

It's the way to go for low-buck go-fast heads.