ALUMINUM B-O-P HEADS FOR THE STREET

CARBURETORS, HEADERS and other external bits get all the glory, but the key to making real power is always in the cylinder heads. Without the ability to move the air-fuel mixture smoothly and in the proper amounts, and lacking the proper combustion chamber shape and size to burn it efficiently, an engine will never live up to its full potential. Get the right heads, and you’ll need that extra flow from the carburetors and headers.

At one time, cylinder head choice was largely a matter of hunting down the best factory castings and going after them with a die grinder. Time, attrition, and the rise of showroom-perfect restorations meant that those castings were an ever-dwindling resource with an ever-increasing price tag. They were also products of the 1960s and ’70s, meaning the engineering was growing more antiquated with each passing year. , Among the General Motors crowd, Chevrolet enthusiasts were fortunate in that their engines of choice had remained in production long after the muscle car offerings of Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick. Chevy folks could choose from newer factory heads, sometimes even cast from aluminum, a technology that was still in its infancy in the ’60s. When the speed-equipment makers got into casting aluminum cylinder heads,