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.

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)

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-

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

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

Seems to me that John's heads are priced reasonably when you consider what it has taken for him to get them in production.  If I am remembering correctly a street port job on a good set of 113's by John cost around $1250 when I sent my heads to him a couple of years ago.  If I needed another set of heads now I would definitely consider a set of the aluminum heads. 

Larry Boyer

57 Black Bird

There are also some young single guys with no wives or kids to take all of the cash.

The aluminum heads really are a no brainer if doing a performance build.  You can easily have just as much in a set of iron heads for the same performance.  For that reason, I agree that I see no reason that a T-bird guy wanting to maintain the stock configuration would shell out the dough.  2 g's makes no sense when he can rework his current heads to achieve his goal for much less.

These heads really are for the guy who's going to take it above stock performance levels and when you compare them to other low demand engines, they really aren't that expensive.

Lawrenceville, GA

The aluminum heads worked great on my street tbird from a smooth takeoff from a traffic light to an amazing amount of power when passing another vehicle in a normal????? sort a way Ha! Ha! As I was saying earlier as John just put it there's more than enough buyers that's willing to put more real useable power in these cars with these aluminum heads with just a little more money as to trying to do the same thing Iron heads. If you want to paint these heads ford red they will look original to the classic tbird or classic car, and you will have to look very close to try and distinguish the difference because there THAT good. Way to go John!!!! and I'm waiting for my other set. So too answer your question Grizzly they worked excellent on the street with no problems..

-Gary Burnette-

Thanks Gary,

If John has done his work right with these heads, and I'm sure he has, they will sell themselves.

cheers Warren Adams

Grizzly (Aussie Mainline)

From my perspective, the Thunderbird show crowd segment of the market is a relatively small percentage of those looking for Y-Block parts that will actually upgrade a Y engine.  That is their prerogative and I’m fine with the reasoning behind it.  On the flip side, there’s a much larger number of early Thunderbird owners who drive their cars and this group definitely wants to keep a Y under the hood if it will make some power numbers that are in line with a SBF or other engine swap.  To this end, the aluminum heads have got some TBird engine swaps putting Y’s back under the hoods simply for the nostalgia of having the original engine back in the car.  And for those who try to maintain some resemblance of originality, they are painting both the aluminum heads and aluminum intakes.  And let’s not overlook the F100 crowd.  That is the sleeper group for buying up Y parts as those pickups are out there in abundance and still priced where you can actually buy one. This is where I see many of the aluminum heads ultimately ending up.  It’s the F100 show group that’s going so far as to chrome the heads just for that additional amount of ‘one up ya’ which makes aluminum heads a natural for that group.

 

Requests for the aluminum heads on my end as an engine builder is strong.  Those requests are easily outweighing the production capability at this point in time so there’s obviously a waiting period for the heads right now.  The aluminum heads are no different than those for other engines in that if they are available, there will be a market for them.  There’s even an aluminum head available for the Ford 200 six now and that didn’t happen because there was no market for them.  What I see on the Y aluminum heads is once the intial demand is filled for engines that are currently being built with these heads in mind, there will be head sales to those wanting the make sure they have a set on the shelf for a future project.  It will be these heads that will be showing up for sale long after the heads are no longer being produced.  This is exactly what’s been occurring with the highly touted Ardun heads for the flathead Ford V8.

 

The aluminum heads have definitely raised the performance bar to the next level.  Although stout performance could be obtained on the oem heads with the addition of power adders, the horsepower potential with the normally aspirated engines with iron heads had pretty much peaked and leveled off.  The aluminum heads have changed all that by leaps and bounds.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)