I'm out here asking the one question no one has answered. Which cast-iron head is better, World Sportsman II, or the Platinum Iron Eagle. Let me say first of all that if you look at earlier posts by my name, I had in my possession a set of old Dart High port aluminum heads. Well, the heads are no more and I have a brand new set of World Sportsman II heads (200cfm Intake). What I want to know is that if I had a set of Dart and World heads (The ones mentioned above with the 200cfm Intake) and did a comparison, which ones would make more horsepower and torque between idle and 6000 rpm on a plain Jane Chevy 350? Any takers?

 

If there was any difference in performance, you'd probably not notice it.

 

Good. I was just making sure the money spent on these heads were spent well. Also, other than never having to change another timing chain again, what are the benefits of upgrading to a gear drive?

 

lots of noise depending on what one you get... but they all will make noise

 

More accurate cam timing since gears dont stretch too well!

 

Their the same company

 

Well, they used to be, but they aren't any longer.

 

The Dart Iron Eagle Platinum heads will make more power in stock form. They flow more air. The World Sportsman II heads need a little porting to flow the same as the Dart heads do.
The Sportsman ports are plenty big enough but the big nasty valve guide boss down in the bowl needs slimming, trimming and contouring. Then a general overall port clean up and smoothing will get the job done. Then you'll be ready to rock.
Don't worry, the Sportsmans are a good head.
They just need a little more preperation.
These heads weree designed and intended to be ported and cleaned up by the end user.

 

The Dart 200cc and World 200CC are very similar heads, not the same, but very very similar, because they are both based on the "Dart Sportsman II" heads they made back in the day together. After they split up, neither one owned the rights to that head, so they just made their own "new" heads based off that design. I doubt you'd notice any real difference between the two.

 

Thanks everyone. I have the Summit noisy gear set. I have heard Dart and World were the same a while back, and that they had a Dart II head. For some reason (Price difference of 250 dollars), I was leaning more for the World heads. I can't be disappointed since this is a daily driver and never a drag car.

 

I had a noisy gear set in my car for 1 day. Even I thought it was too noisy.

 

I have the old Dart II heads, although I haven't installed them yet. The basic design of the chambers looks very similar to both the World Sportsman heads and Dart IE heads.

 

Good heads. Usually benefit from some pocket clean-up. Their name appropriately is World "Castings", not World "Finish Machining".

 

I dont know how true it is but I have heard the gear drive will cost you about 7 HP over timing chain.