PRO COMP ALUMINUM HEADS

Originally Posted by kgordonl

WOW! Thanks for the link Scott. In all fairness, I don't know anything about the people who put that article together and Dennis' 11.72 time @ 116.92mph with his Windsor using Pro Comp 210's is certainly respectable, but it does raise my concern over my set of Pro Comp 210's! Since my engine is together and ready for the dyno, I'm certainly going to go ahead and dyno it as is. But if my 424W doesn't clear the 500hp mark with similar torque numbers, then I will know that something is wrong!!! Now I know what component I will change first if it doesn't put up good numbers!!!
Another thing to consider if you are trying to save money on your engine build is that if you have to pay someone else to do your port-matching and clean up the runners, then you probably could have bought a set of AFR's or atleast Vic Jr.'s for the same investment! I was able to do my own port work so I have under $800 total tied up in my set fully assembled. We'll see very soon (hopefully this coming week) if my Pro Comps were truly a bargain!!!!

Your combination certainly screams for some better flowing heads than what you have in your possession.

I do hope they work out for you better than I feel they worked for me. Mine were fairly well cleaned up and port matched also.

Here is a flow test of the Pro Comp 210 heads (unported) vs. the smaller port/valved AFR 185:

ProComp (independent test):

Intake Exhaust
.200 103 101
.300 140 136
.400 179 169
.500 218 172
.600 244 170

They were flowed using 4" bore, 1-7/8" pipe on exhaust, and 1/2" intake radius, .28 H2O, on a SuperFlow600 bench.

AFR 185 (independent test):

Intake Exhaust
.600 291 211

SuperFlow600 flowbench with a 4.030" bore, 1 3/4" pipe on the exhaust. No additional head porting. No other data given for other lifts.

Standard AFR 185's from AFR website:

Intake Exhaust
.200 129 116
.300 189 153
.400 234 178
.500 267 185
.600 277 191

28" of H2O, 4.060" bore, 1 3/4" pipe on the exhaust.

Thanks for the flow numbers Dennis! Hmmm, those don't look like the flow numbers Pro Comp advertises for the 210's! I certainly hope my set will work out well. Hopefully they will flow somewhat better than those numbers since they've been opened up a bit. I will let you know as soon as I can get her on the dyno!
I just noticed that Keith Craft is now building some engines with Pro Comp heads.
Jeg's has just started selling Pro Comp bare heads and their item description states "Producing 500+ HP out of the box"

KGordoL, couldn´t agree you more. If you do the port clean up yourself, it´s worth it. If you have to pay some professional... $$$

How could hand labour compete with CNC machine?

These heads have their place. and some even make power with them. I hope some day I´m in that group.. lol

Originally Posted by dennis111

Just my 2cents . . . . . .

I have been running a set of 210's for a couple of years now with no problems.

I think I have outgrown mine and am going to do an upgrade. I recently traded for some 205 AFR's and will hopefully will be able to do a valid performance comparison.

Hey Dennis, did you ever post a comparison anywhere about how your car runs now with the AFR 205's vs. when you were running the ProComp 210's??? I would love to hear your observations.

Originally Posted by kgordonl

Hey Dennis, did you ever post a comparison anywhere about how your car runs now with the AFR 205's vs. when you were running the ProComp 210's??? I would love to hear your observations.

No, I haven't ran the car yet since the tracks here in the snowy north haven't opened for the season. I am shooting for a mid-April test and tune.

Should be a reasonably valid comparison. I bored the block .030, but used the same model of piston. Otherwise the motor will be the same except for the AFR's. The AFR's were freshened up and a light milling was required to eliminate some deck surface scratches.

Other performance changes to the car over the winter include Calvert 90/10 front shocks and a sintered iron adjustable clutch.

If I remember this thread, I'll report back here with the results.

Damn, my World Jr heads aren't too far behind the AFR 185's.

AFR 185's
.500 267 185
.600 277 191

Professionally Ported World Jr's/Modified
.500 254 185
.550 260 190
.650 269 190

what about the cleveland style heads, anybody had any experience with those?

Over the winter I had my block bored .030 (using the same stock # pistons) and the AFR205's. All other major components of the motor and car remained the same. Same cam, valve springs, intake, carb, transmission, and rearend. Same ignition curve and timing. Even used the same old spark plugs and wires. Same 1011-2 head gaskets.

Last years best track time was a 11.72@116.92mph. This year I have gained over 4 mph and have run a best of 11.521@121.29mph. That is about a 50hp gain at the flywheel, primarily (40hp or more) from the installation of a good head, in this case the AFR's.

That should pretty much prove how much gain a good head has over a ProComp that has been worked over.

See http://www.fordmuscle.com/forums/dra...cing-cake.html and judge for yourself.

VERY NICE DENNIS!!! Thanks for the info, I've been looking forward to hearing how the swap to AFR's worked out for you. Sounds like I stand to gain in the neighborhood of 50 horses if I do the same. What kind of work did you do on the AFR's, or are they pretty much "out of the box"??? Did you go wth the 205's with the nitrous exhaust port?

Only other question now is whether or not I can swap my heads in the car with my head studs... I'm waiting to hear the answer to that on another thread