51ford

After reading Rooster Racings post, does anyone have any first hand experience with using John Kaase P-51 heads? I know Paul Kayne swears by the DOVE cast iron heads ( up to a certain horsepower anyway) but after reading the info on Kaase's website, his sound like they,ve gained huge horespower and torque gains just by bolting these on what he calls a fairly stock motor.
Any ideas?

Paul Kane

I don't "swear by" the iron heads; I am practical and make cylinder head choices based on many different parameters. I do regularly recommend the factory iron because the majority of performance builds that people tell me they are executing may be fulfiled with the OEM iron. As a matter iof speaking, why spend $9800 for 525 hp at 5300 rpm when you can have 525 hp at 5300 rpm for just $5800?

Also, there is no "best' cylinder head, just the most appropriate cylidner head for a given build. One should choose a cylinder head based on the performance needs and application of the engine. This is a very extreme example, but it makes the point clear: bolt a set of Top Fuel hemi heads to your OEM shortblock and stuff the engine into your door slammer, and you will have a dog of an engine and lose most every race. Combination, combination, combination, that's what matters the most.

Countless times we have removed factory iron CJ heads from 460-powered jet boats and replaced them with ported passenger car heads and the passenger car headed engine makes for the better combo, the better performance, etc. Every case is different and the combo needs to be evaluated relative to the targeted engine performance needs.

The P51 is an outstanding cylinder head, and in the correct applications it will shine like no other. I would think that if they were bolted to a bone stock engine you will certainly see power improvements. That is not to say that a different setup for the same amount of money wouldn't be the way to go. It really depends on your needs.

Paul

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