hello to all ... first post...
somewhat off topic at times... and a little ranting ... and a little long..but..
I'll have to say .. its all in what you want... AFD or CHI and what your goal is. I wanted to build something different for when i lift the hood at a show, be able to drive 400 miles round trip with about 500hp/500tq with the wife beside me. I don't plan on drag racing and would love to road race or SCCA one day and maybe do a long distance pro touring trip. basically i want to be able to get in the car and go without thinking about it...
so i ordered a set of AFD 2V heads after beating my head against the wall trying to find a good pair of 2V factory heads and getting them cleaned up and prepped. I read and read and then read some more on the CHI vs AFD. so i went all out and ordered a SCAT forged 408 rotating assembly with SRP forged pistons and scat H beam rods to stuff in my C9 date code 351W block. I had to... gotta give those great flowing heads something to feed! was it cheap no..is it what i wanted yes. and for those wondering....why didn't i go with eagle for my rotating assembly? nobody i talked to would put a stroker kit together for me. eagle reps said nope.... so i searched elsewhere.
why did i buy the AFD heads over CHI? because i didn't want to purchase the intake for the CHI heads. I already had a B&A 351 track boss intake and I wanted to be as close as I could at getting factory accessories and headers to bolt on. I want AC and PS to bolt up. have i bolted up the accessories yet ... nope... i pick up the long block from the machine shop in jan 09. hmmm the CHI heads seem to out flow the AFD heads in published numbers. but, the completed AFD 2V heads can get me into a great flowing set of heads for a bit less than the CHI heads and will work with my 2v intake and have a good chance at hitting my 500/500 goal.. decision made...
its so easy to get caught up in the numbers game and bench race with this head and that ...CHI or AFD... AFR or edelbrock... ported .. or "cleaned up"... etc etc. bottom line in my opinion... until you build it and place it on a engine dyno or chasis dyno .. you don't know what you have. can you ball park the build based on published specs... yep, that's what i did.. how many people have the time, money and resources around them to flow the heads to verify the numbers, flow the intake, port the intake for even flow.. match the intake to the heads.. then stick it on an engine dyno. not many ... i am trying to locate an engine dyno that is operational at the moment and as of yet i have not found a engine dyno within two+ hours in the SE that has an operational dyno. if anybody has some leads.. let me know.
everybody has a budget .. but a budget build... that's defined per individual ... a budget of 2,000 or a budget of 10,000 ... only if you already have parts laying around, have your own machine shop..lots of skills and build it yourself... can you save money and build it "correctly". can you half A$% it and do a junk yard build.. sure.. how long will it last? so many variables... so little time.
In building my combo I had fixed cost on machining, prep and labor.... everything else was defined by what "I" wanted. did i have to purchase a 2100 set of AFD heads. nope... i could bolt on a set of factory 351C 2v heads and have 800 bucks in them (cleaned, ported, valves). did i have to stroke it to 408... nope.. my stock 69 351W crank is still in great shape.. but why put 1200+ dollars into a engine (block prep, heads cleaned, new valves, rods, push rods etc.) and wonder if its going to last on a 400 mile trip (with wife beside you) or stay together when you "put your foot in it". (Freudian slip.. trying to justify being over budget...?) not to mention the 500hp/500tq goal.
its all in what you want.... cant wait till the new AFD intake comes out... hmm maybe ill build a CHI headed motor with the new boss block... then put the AFD heads on it with an edelbrock 302E intake... it never ends...
.. .oh yeah im already over my "budget"
take care
