That is exactly the discussion I'm looking for! I did poke around on the web
and found a car craft article debunking the HP loss/gain in aluminum vs iron
head in some ways, with dyno data and while interesting not totally
conclusive, but seems to cover a good amount of the common cases run into in
warmed over motors. The summary was they picked up 2 sets of heads from Dart
Machine who makes an almost identical aluminum and iron head for the SBC. They
flowed before testing and the iron head and aluminum were very close in all
numbers. The numbers on the dyno were almost not measurably different, they
also messed with timing and no difference where motors with either head
type would detonate. Some other stuff too. I think the compression for the
test was in the mid 10's so while I might not consider it high, others might.
Long and short was HP was no different according to dyno data. It did not
address any cooling system issues which would be more what
this thread was
about.
I raised the question with the expectation of a response like this,
which is much more informative and thus valuable. My thinking is that I would
also rather have control on the cooling system then rely on paint, polish, as
cast if I'm on the edge, but that I think is a different discussion.
I had
an orange painted Big Block and the fellow that was helping me build back in
the 80's it got pissed of that it was orange and said the best color for an
engine is all black for heat removal, and ruined my nice chevy orange paint.
It did do one thing nice was hide the oil leaks...
I have a polished aluminum
big block chevy block in the Cobra (not of my doing, don't like the glitter)
but still made over 700hp with a 468" motor, so my initial fear that chrome
and polished stuff doesn't make HP was debunked ;-)
And in the context of
most of us here with Tigers, likely will not make any difference I would apply
paint, polish, and still be happy that we all have something to chatter about,
and I'll agree all good stuff.
Sandy
(was too long for the list so I cut it
up a bit)
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