As most of
you know, I bought a set of AFR heads for my Elky. I've recently confirmed
some info regarding aftermarket aluminum heads you should be award of before
purchasing...
In the quest
for higher flow numbers, the aftermarket head manufacturers are altering their
castings. What this means is that not only are the exhaust ports and spark
plug holes relocated, but the majority of available heads are wider than a
factory head. This might not sound like a big deal until you try to get
headers that will fit the heads and your car.
Not too long
ago I bought a set of Stahl headers and much to my grief, once bolted to the
heads, I wasn't able to get a socket on 3 of the passenger side plugs.
Since the engine wasn't in the car, I have no idea wether or not the headers
would have fit the chassis. Thankfully Stahl let me return them for a
refund. Now Stahl is in the process of building another set using their
second design with an adjustable jig and one of my AFR heads for
accurate dimensions. Needless to say, these new headers won't be
cheap.
After talking
with Jere Stahl and Ed Henneman (Headers by ED) they both confirmed that the
head manufacturers are avoiding this topic. The head manufacturers aren't
the end users so they keep changing the castings and "forget" to mention to
potential customers there may be a problem fitting headers. I guess if
you're building a completely handcrafted race car, a set of one-off headers
isn't a problem. However, if you're building a car using a factory
chassis, header fit becomes an issue.
For those of
you with crate 502 engines that have Chevy aluminum heads, were there any
problems fitting headers?
