Oldmics (5/31/2010)
....What is different about the new heads that makes them superior?
Oldmics
The intake valve has been moved closer to where the exhaust valve was or away from the edge of the cylinder wall. To help this along, the exhaust valve was placed closer to its adjoining cylinder wall. Both the intake and exhaust valves have also been relocated higher in the bore and closer to the intake manifold. All this makes for better flow numbers before port improvements come into the picture. The ports themselves have also been reconfigured internally which just adds to the improvement in flow seen from relocating the valves.
The oil drainage in the valve cover area has been greatly improved on the aluminum heads. Oil drainage is no longer relying solely on the two oil drain holes at each end of the head as the new head design has oil drainage taking place at some of the pushrod holes.
Add to the list of improvements the use of 14mm sparkplugs and redesigned combustion chambers. The 14mm spark plugs do sit more inboard than the 18mm plugs on the stock heads which at the bare minimum gives additional spark plug wire room around the headers. The combustion chamber design likes less total timing which makes the combustion more efficient. Brake specific fuel numbers are lower which points to better fuel economy if the driver can keep a light foot on the throttle.
Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)