Is there a know hp number for a se t/a alum head verse a stock head. How much the difference for just bolting a set on?
It is a little more power but the big thing is the weight savings off the front end. Aluminum heads, intake & headers really take a lot of weight off the front of our Buicks. Only really matters if you're racing it. Like everything about these cars its a matter of what you really plan to do with the car.
Depends on your combination but I would say yes you can feel it but its not some crazy amount of power difference like Nitrous or other power adders. I would like to have aluminum heads but I can think of many other things I could use on my car over spending that much on just heads. I also am not racing my car its more of a cruiser.
Anytime you increase the minimum port area which is what aftermarket heads do to gain additional hp then you shift the motors rpm of peak torque and Hp up to a higher rpm. How much this shift in the power band effects low rpm drivability depend on how much excess of that you have yo start with. with aftermarket heads if your not running a cam of atleast.450” lift then the only power benefit your really going to feel and notice is from the reduction in weight and cooler intake charge . I am far from being against aftermarket heads, but you have to plan on using what they have to offer. You would not put a tire with a 4” tread width on a rim made for a 60 series tire would you?
You could go for reliability. Aluminum heads run cooler and will provide a safety margin over iron heads in that respect. Kind of like having an engine that will safely rev to 7,000 but keeping the redline at 5,800 will make it live a lot longer.
Dollar for dollar, a roller cam is a better hp/$ value. Aluminum heads are good for being more detonation resistant with higher compression.
Seems like I remember in an old GSXtra...fella had a bracket car with a 413 cam in a stock 70 shortblock..running 12.40s and put a set of out of the box stage 1s on and wants straight to 11.80s
Better head flow has NO downsides. The low end will have more to do with the cam you select. The TA SE Aluminum heads flat out work, you'll just need to run a minimum of 10:1 static compression. The latest TA catalog says 50+ HP gain on a 10:1 engine. Bolting on my TA Stage1 SE heads and a Performer intake with no other changes took me from 13.2s at 101 MPH to mid 12s at 107 MPH, and yes, I could feel it. The car pulled harder ALL the way down the track instead of flattening out mid track.
No downside to aluminum heads none ..well other than $$ ...and the ports are so small on Buicks you aren't killing any low end power
