Bill has it pretty close to correct. Honestly the demand has been about double what I expected for an initial run and we are getting calls on a regular basis from people not on the waiting list. Frankly, its a little overwhelming.

We will receive another 60 castings next Monday and they are spoken for.

Don't try to use logic to understand the economy. When faced with spending money on what they need or what they want, people will chose what they want ever time.

Don't forget, if you are employed during a recession, its just a buying opportunity. Its only if you are unemployed that it becomes a disaster.

Look at the stock market going up when the economy appears weak. Hard to explain.

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

Hi Greg, I'd think the aluminum heads are the best performance item available since sliced bread and equal amounts of money could easily be spent chasing performance in other areas, carbs, ex, cams etc and really aren't just a luxury item, personally I think there is a strong demand for the heads and more a supply problem than anything that more haven't got on engines yet to voice the results. maybe I'm wrong but that's my view.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

I see the same thing Greg, these cars and trucks are so beautiful I just see them taking it as far as they can in beauty and power for the Y-blocks. Just look at what their doing to the over the pond cars ( thousands and thousands of dollars??? ) should we with a much much nicer looking cars and trucks ( y-block equipped ) do any less............. I see a lot of pride continueing to be put into these beauties at the car shows etc. I believe there's still a market for parts for these cars including after market parts for power, just check epay and see what parts are going for....... pretty scary!!!!

-Gary Burnette-

I see it completely differently. Unless you are doing a standard rebuild the alloy heads make sense. If you were to go with cast iron heads. Firstly you need to buy a set of G or 113 heads unless you are luck enough to already have a set. If you are unlucky you could end up buying more than one set to get a good complete set.(cracks, corrosion etc) I don't know what you are paying for a rebuild but a mate of mine was quoted $1000 for a unleaded upgrade (Head work only). So for new valves, porting, seats, machining, considerably more.

Personally I've paid $1800 for porting and head work on a two cylinder two valves per cylinder motorcycle heads.

A couple grand for a set of heads that work better than the "G" option out of the box, is a better sounding alternative.

The heads have proven themselves on the dyno. That's clear. I'd like to hear from someone who has them on a "driver" and can give some info on what they are like to drive. The other main concern is reliability   

Grizzly (Aussie Mainline)

In essence, aluminum heads for the Y block are a luxury good. Theoretically, as the economic cycle turns downward, the demand for luxury goods (aluminum heads in the case) is reduced more than the demand for other more "normal" goods. However, this is cyclical in nature, and the world keeps on spinning.



Although I would imagine John's heads aren't selling AS well as could have been expected, I would imagine that the individuals interested in the heads to begin with are still for the most part purchasing.



Additionally, although you haven't seen that much increase in demand for aftermarket Y blocks parts in your neck of the woods, you can see it all over the country. Increase in selling prices for core pieces as well as decorative items (see the edelbrock valve covers as of late) are incredible. The Y block is slowly becoming one of the hotter (no hp pun intended) motors for hot rods in front of our collective eyes.

My name is Greg and I am addicted to Y's.

so here is what we have....the guys in the t-bird clubs don't want anything to do with 'not original' stuff.....that 'takes out' a bunch of sales.....the old guys with y-blocks don't seem to have $2000+ laying around for these heads either.......who does this leave??? rich guys with 55 fords? not too many of them around, i'll bet...and another thing...i was in the local 'classic car ' club in toledo,ohio for the last 3 years...i do add-on air cond. for older cars--(i'm a ex-mechanic) and had two complete vintage air 'kits' in garage loft--tried to sell them (half price) to anyone in the club (not just y-block people---any people (sbc,too-(chokeing sound here)--guess what--nobody wanted anything to do with adding a/c to their cars--they all 'liked them just as they were when new....and were not intrested...(and it can get pretty hot in toledo sometimes in the summer)....so who is left?? i can't see a whole bunch of drag racers popping out of the bushes...(am i wrong??) this was a great idea in 1995--maybe with the country in a kind of 'no money-out of work' thing going on now...this is hurting sales.....yes? no? somebody out there (john mummert?)...text me back and straighten me out on this......later ed

With 5/8" thick deck and 356-T6 material these heads should be more rigid than the OEM iron units. Somehow Ford managed to build 50lb cylinder heads and not put any material in the deck.  The 5/8" deck also helps prevent thermal loss that an aluminum head would have if it were cast with the same thickness as a stocker.

Great to see photo's of the new heads.  Similar combustion chamber shape to other aftermarket heads I've seen for other american iron. Better combustion chamber size, decent dia valves, plenty of "meat'"to shave and up the compression, improved ports with better flow and all within the confines of using as many existing parts as possible. Seems to answer just about all anyone would want or expect. Good work John.

The photo's (that I've seen) only show three sides of the heads! Some of the intake side would be great?

On Dyno testing this is obviously a testing ground where they can show thier worth. I for one would be interesed in seeing a milder street engine tested as well as a hotter race engine. Obviously not every application can be tested but this would give a reasonable range for customers who would be interested.

Also on reliability is a set of heads going to be tested on something that is regularly driven. Obviouly racing shows how they will perform (last) in the high temp high pressure environment that racing is, but daily driving has it's own set of extremes. Multipule warm up and cool down cycles, traffic, lugging loads I can see that these heads could be used in many applications, as many as there are Y block interest groups and be used in T birds, F100, trucks, a range of passenger cars from rods to full size cars. I'm wondering how reliability will be tested?   

  

Grizzly (Aussie Mainline)

Holy Moly, I can even feel the ground beginning to tremble now,but I cant' tell if it's the awesome power of the NEW Y-Block parts, or the scrub lovers starting to tremble in their boots!!!!!  CONGRATULATIONS JOHN and Big Thanks for making a dream come true!

Bud in Northern Arizona on route 66 in Winslow (standin' on the corner)

If you're American, buy American

631/2 Galaxie 500XL 406   55 T-Bird

Last night I dreamed of turbos. Tonight it'll probably be aluminum heads.


Lawrenceville, GA