Little Tommy

For all of you guy's running the Dart Pro 1 cylinderheads, I am wondering how they are with regards to durablility in marine environmeet in warm water and cold water. I was told by some reliable resources that they cannot handle the duty cycle's of marine buse. I need all you feedack ASAP. I know they make great power but I am concerned with the duty cycle.
Thanks!!
By the way, how many of you are running the Dart Pro 1's??

Bryan Rose

Running Brodix BB2's no problem so far ....fresh water environment....

BenPerfected

My suggestion is to ask for specifics/facts on this or any other subject. I wouldn't be swayed by opinions without first hand experience....BS. OSO is full of unsubstantiated opinions. A good place to start to get real experience on marine cylinder heads is with OSO member JimV.

Little Tommy

Do you happen to have his contact info?

jeff1000man

There is nothing wrong with running aluminum heads in a marine environment, you will just need to know that they will require more constant attention to keep them in good shape.

Keep the engines flushed, keep the plugs changed and keep the engine compartment free of salt and corrosives, you'll love them.

Make sure you don't buy one that is to big for your application or you will hate them though.

Rookie

JimV runs them on his NA 780+HP 565. He will tell you exactly which head you will need for your application. He can buy them at a discount and set them up for you. He can also work his magic and port them for you, he is one of the best MARINE head porters out there. (thats if you want to make some real power) give him a call you won't be disapointed.

(six one six) eight eight nine - zero nine two eight

I think he also worked for Dart for a while.

Rebel_Heart

I have been running the Dart Pro Ones for 3 years. Jim V did the flowing on mine a couple of years ago. He is very good and a great guy. You can't go wrong with either.

Young Performance

I have used over 100 sets of Pro 1's and have had no durability issues what so ever. I had used them exclusively until recently. I used a set of Brodix BB2's on a common combination of mine. (598 ci Whipple 3.3 efi) I only used them because the customer had one that was still good after the engine blew up( build by another builder) In an effort to save some money for the customer, I reused the one head and purchased another to match. The engine made 65 more hp and 70 ftlbs of torque over what it normally would have with the Pro 1's. I have built MANY of these engines with the Pro 1 heads and although they make excellent power, the Brodix heads stomped them. Every one that I did with the Pro 1's made between 950 and 965 hp. The engine with the BB2's made 1028 hp and 1097 lbs torque. Everything else was absolutely identical. I have used the BB2's on another engine....540 with an M3 Procharger. This was the first one like it that I had done, so I didn't have anything to compare it to. I thought it should have made around 825 hp. It actually made well over 900 hp.
I still like the Pro 1 heads and will use them again without hesitation, but you may want to consider the BB2's. I would like to use them on another of my common combinations to see what the difference is in a NA motor. I do a 598 ci naturally aspirated engine, 750 hp. The next one I do will get the BB2's to see how it responds. I will keep you guys posted.
Hope this helps, Eddie.

ezstriper

the duty cycle hot/cold not that big of a issue as cars start cold and get to hot....but slat water will not be kind to coolant passages...Rob

Chris Sunkin

Back when the only aluminum heads available were the GM heads, they had a reputation for losing the pressed-in valve seats. Obviously the aluminum of the head expands and contracts much more quickly than the seat does.

In the last 30 years, we've gotten much better at aluminum heads. While aluminum heads were once an exotic high-performance rarity, now the rarity on production vehicles is cast iron heads.