Check this out...

I was wondering if anyone had any info on these things, like their reliability, actual streetability, etc... anyone ever even seen a pair in use? If I can ever afford a set of these heads I'd love to have em. A 32 valve motor with an in-block cam would be the shiznit...

http://www.araoengineering.com/


I just wish they weren't so damned expensive, according to those dyno sheets these things give some pretty major power gains to any pushrod V8 that bolts them on.

Well, I recall there were the Dominator quad-valve heads that came out a few years ago. I've never heard of reliability problems, but then, I rarely hear of people using them for street cars.

If I recall right, the intent was actually initially to get them legalized for World of Outlaws sprint car racing. It didn't work, plus by that time Gaerte had done up their fuel injected, methanol burning version of the Chevrolet SB2 race engine. Attempts to legalize the heads in road racing and other oval series also failed, with Trans-Am, ASA, USAR Pro-Cup, and Nascar featherlight modifieds all banning the heads.

As I understand, the trick to running those heads is custom cutting the pistons. They're a very good idea, and if I had the cash for the machine work I'd probably end up using them in my mid-engine V8 1969 Chevy Corvair project (to commence once I have oodles of money).

Damn man, you knew more than I hoped! Well, if these were meant for racing, then they must be pretty bad assed heads. If only they weren't worth as much as my car is right now... I might buy a set and slap em on when I rebuild the lump. Oh well... I'll just keep dreamin... :) The site mentioned that the guy building them there was the head engineer at Dominion and he changed the design to be less mod intensive. That would be a good thing, the cost of a machine shop custom cutting or modding a set of pistons for those head would be ludicrous.