Why is it that there are no aftermarket heads for honda's? Is the current head design so good that a new design would not produce an appreciable amount of power? Just wondering because I still get domestic summit catalogs and there are dozens of heads for the big displacement guys.

 

everything in a honda head is replaceable.. cams valves valve springs rocker arms.. you can port and polish a head.. put a new intake manifold.. upgrade the throttle body.. theres not really a reason to replace the actual head shell.. i guess you could get upgraded coolant and oil runners in the retainers and other passage ways.. but.. i really don't see the point in that

 

I think there are 3 reasons.

they already flow very well

Producing a high performance head for a honda would be considerably more expensive than a set for a chevy 350 for example. it's mechanically more complicated, and will be sold to a much smaller audience.

The companies that make a lot of the domestic heads, dart, edelbrock, etc, are really only just starting to warm up to the "import scene" those are the compaines that can spend a ton of money developing and marketing a new head design.

 

That's what I figured on all three accounts, maybe in 5 years we'll all be talking about the new B18 Edelbrock heads.

 

yeah, what he said. I think Dart may come out with something

 

My question was about heads, not cams, valvesprings, rocker arms etc. You can replace everything on a 302 head just as easily, they don't cast the springs on the head. There is more to a head than you think. Runner length and shape, valve placement and angle, sparkplug placement, combustion chamber design. Also, sure you can port the head, but you sacrifice velocity for the sake of better flow. That is why ported heads work better on F/I cars, they don't need the speed as much as the flow. A good head is the product of intense research, it's not just a chunk of metal you bolt the cams onto. We can all learn a little from the V-8 guys if we pay attention.

 

There are several reasons why aftermarket Honda heads don't exist.

First off, a stock Honda head with p&p will flow well enough to support most high power applications. The head design also has very few design flaws such as inadequate cooling, or poor port routing/volume.

Secondly, only companies that have massive R&D departments can make a new head. Most of these companies have only recently gotten into the import scene. The V8 crowd got a 40 year head start on us.

The Dart block is an indcator of things to come. In a few years, aftermarket blocks and heads will be more common, but only required for the most extreme applications. It all takes time, and the import scene is fairly young.

 

Yeah, it took forever for an aftermarked Honda block, made by Dart, to appear.

Dart should make one, and I've heard that JG/Edelbrock are working on one.

We'll just have to wait and see...

 

Try looking into Gude, I read an artical in SCC about their heads. Kinda pricey though at $1700.00

 

Gude's head packages are just cams, t/b, and ecu. We're talking about a completely new head that replaces everything above the head gasket. V8 guys have had these things forever, but they haven't hit the import scene yet.