Re: Aluminum Magnum heads!!!!!!!!

From: Mike Schwall (mschwall@flash.net)
Date: Fri Feb 04 2000 - 00:04:54 EST


At 11:35 PM 2/3/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>What would the gains to an alum. head be over a cast head? I think weigh
>reduction, but then alum warps faster? and the valve seat might wear out
>faster over time with alum.... Sorry. beginning in automotive stuff. still
>trying to figure out alum. VS cast iron stuff..
>-Dester

Yes aluminum is softer and can be dented/nicked easier than iron, spark
plug threads can be stripped easily, and they can warp. Main advantage of
aluminum is heat transfer. It can transfer heat from the combustion
chamber walls to the coolant water better and faster than iron. It allows
you to get away with a little higher compression and a little more advance
than the same setup with iron. Old racers idea was to reverse the flow of
water, so the cooler water from the radiator goes to the heads first
instead of last. All aluminum heads have hardened valve seat inserts It's
a high carbon steel that is a real bugger to machine. It's a pain to do a
valve job when you got hardened inserts, go through stones in a
hurry. Hardened valve seat inserts were used when gasoline was switched
from leaded to unleaded back in the 70's in the iron heads.

Mike

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