If anyone could be interested

DougNuts said:

If you were going to rebuild a turbo motor or convert an N/A motor to turbo, it would be the head to get if you had the money, no?

Oh, this would be on a 100% street motor too.

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If you are considering a ported iron head, then you definitely want to consider the D-port, because the price is pretty much the same if you figure in the price of a core. If you have a cracked iron head and you have trouble finding a good one, then it's a good alternative. I wouldn't say it's totally necessary or anything, but it's an efficient alternative, money and time-wise, plus it's 35# lighter than the iron head and it bolts on.

Exactly. One of the local guys went through at least 5-6 heads to find a non-cracked one. One of them had been in my daily driver years ago. I only pulled it out to swap in a ported oval port head. (Allen moore head). He finally bought an NOS turbo head from another local guy. Took it to the machine shop for a little work and the machine shop ended up cracking the head. I think it was they grabbed the wrong seat on accident and it was too big. I dunno. So now he has a n/a head I had sitting around. In the middle of all this I thought about offering him my slightly used AL d-port. I wish I would have, I think he would have been happier. On the other hand he is doing the porting himself and gets most of the work he does have done for a descent price anyway. (volvo tech)

Anyway, before paying to have any work done to an iron head, think seariously about the costs. I know on my first worked over iron head I spent as much on it as a Essy AL d-port. Of course that was years before it had come out and I didn't know that much about the other Essy heads in a "street" car.

I know I'm a bit late. But it seems like a lot of work , where a 5.0 or turbo swap could be more easier and more accessible. I just read up on the work involved and possible "down-the-road" maintenence and seems kinda unstable to do. Chances are these guys have disposable cash and already have good cars to have time and money to sink into this (perhaps you do too ) I had a 2.3 and My first thought was. Lets drop a 5.0 in there

Mike SVOR said:

But Joe says they're selling "Pallets" of those heads.
That's not mainstream enough? Shoot, that sounds like TFS to me!

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Considering the sheer numbers of 302/351 guys to 2.3 enthusiasts it is much more common for the 8 guys to have more/cheaper choices.
And Considering Esslinger is not a huge company Owned By Summit or others, I find it totally understandable that a Higher Price will be paid for quality parts. Much like flipping thru a Clifford's Catalog. Inline six Parts are also not ultra cheap..

DougNuts said:

Don't they have a new head out that is only $1500?

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Yeah the 3500 was geared towards the big gun Arca head. If you are putting down big #'s that's the ticket.
For the levels most any of us will ever see the d-port is more than adequate.