good ported irons, are good ported irons. out of the box aluminums are out of the box aluminums. two different beasts entirely. if you just want to buy a set of out of the box good preforming heads that will leave you room to go and save you a ton of weight, then the aluminum is the way to go. if you just want that little bit of extra performance, want to save a few bucks, and don't plan on much down the road then porting is a good route. i've seen out of the box bolt on AFR 165s completely transform an otherwise stock 5.0, but you spend for it too...
the fact that they are made of aluminum is not going to change your compression ratio, the shape and size of the combustion chamber does that. with either ported or aftermarket heads you'll want to make sure your fuel and ignition systems are up to handling the increased air flow.

cool thanks for that info......lets say i am running around 13 flat with my 351w if i just get a bigger cam (sumtinn round .500 lift) and port the stock 1972 iron heads could i see 11's in the 14? with good suspension?

^That's possible if the cam is designed properly for the engine, a good port job is expensive but worth it and much cheaper than alum. heads. I agree with what Scones said above and if it was me, I'd port the stockers cuz' I'm cheap and I prefer the cast heads for durability and resistance to warpage. You will be best off to call Comp cams or a similar cam company and tell them your exact setup inluding engine model and year, compression, type of pistons, etc.....they will design a cam to get the most power from what you already have, and it's not as expensive as you think. If you port the stock heads, don't forget to port match the intake and headers as well as you'll find there's quite a difference with port-matched parts and it will help you get to your power goal.rockon:

would this all cost...oh um maybe like under 1k? or not

arnt cams like 500 bucks now?

lets say your running 15's and lets call high 13's your goal without alotta $$$$$

huh??????????????

A good custom-grind cam would probably be close to $500, the head porting can be done for close to that, maybe a little more, shop around or start a thread asking if anyone knows porters in your area, I know someone who does them near Toronto, but that's a little far from you it.

100% agree goodpost:

i know i guy that can port really good.....he owns a 10 second falcon last year he gave me ported gt-40 heads with apr bolt FOR FREE!!!rockon: