Quote:
Originally Posted by i82much
I see a lot of posts from guys running aluminum D-port heads. I get the reasoning behind this if a guy already has iron D ports and wants to use his existing headers with a nice upgrade to aluminum heads.
Here is my question - if you don't have D port headers already and they make a round port header for your chassis ... why not just go with aftermarket round port heads? Other than header availability, do aftermarket D port heads have any advantage at all over aftermarket round port heads?
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I recently had to deal with this exact dilemma on a personal car. Had already bought round port E-heads for my Catalina. But the log jam was the damn exhaust manifolds. Especially with a street Pontiac, with the great manifolds they had, why deal with the continuous aggravation of tube headers on the street? The endless exhaust leaks at the flanges, rusting out every 3 years, maybe 6 years if coated, extra noise, heat, fitment issues, poor ground clearance and so forth. But the problem is, the round port exhaust manifolds are made of unobtanium. After waiting nearly 2 years I finally gave up, sold the heads and bought a set of D-port Edelbrock heads instead. They do not flow as well, especially over .300 lift, but at least ram air and long branch manifolds are available. D-port heads are more difficult to improve the exhaust port, and probably cost me 20-25 HP. But at least I can drive my car.
If I was going to run tube headers, I would certainly use round port heads.