[fostereast]

Been a while since I've been around, I hope everyone's getting ready for spring rides!

I've been told that the historic problem with aluminum heads, blocks etc. is that the machining requirements are different and if you machine the heads/deck with the same surface finish prescribed in the sixties for cast iron, you were bound to have trouble. Over the years this has obviously been sorted out and with millions of cars using aluminum blocks and heads, durability is certainly possible. Also gasket materials have changed as well.

I think also another consideration is the idea that... when I was a kid, it was no big deal to overheat a Chevy 350 truck motor, we'd just let it cool and would top off the radiator and get going. Never lost a head gasket or warped a head. The first time I was in a foreign car with an aluminum head it blew a head gasket and warped the head the moment it overheated. So I think an aluminum engine block or heads have a more narrowly defined state of robustness with respect to many things when compared to our old Detroit iron engines.

I like cast iron... until you have to pick it up.