----- Original Message -----
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?
Herb Lumpp
http://users.adelphia.net/~hlump/index.htm
