Arao engineering - Lateral-g Forums

andrewmp6 · #1 08-27-2007, 06:42 AM

anyone ever heard of them before they make 32 valve push rod heads. http://www.araoengineering.com/

**XcYZ** · #2 08-27-2007, 07:04 AM

Yeah, they've been around a while. Tom Nelson built a small block using those heads and he said that spec'ing a cam was difficult because the heads flow so differently than any other SBC head.

Scotch · #3 08-27-2007, 08:58 AM

I heard there was some long-term durability issues with those. No one I have ever spoken with has told me they had a set and loved them.

Rather, I've heard they were hard to get, and once they got them, they needed work to get together, and once they got together they had durability issues, and once they had durability issues, customer service and support were non-existent, as were replacement parts.

All points considered, they should be everywhere, making crazy power and winning races and setting records. As far as I can tell, this is not the case.

But hey, it's your money.

~SP~

Bowtieracing · #4 08-27-2007, 10:16 AM

Been around long time but i havent seen any single car with em ever featured any magazine or any race.

If they would be even 50% so good they have claimed - i am sure we would see them a lot .

**Steve Chryssos** · #5 08-27-2007, 04:59 PM

If you need a four valver, you're better off building an LT5 ZR1 engine. Either way, there is much complexity. Kind of unnecessary in a world filled with potent LSx engines. Cool looking though.

ProdigyCustoms · #6 08-27-2007, 05:53 PM

I agree with Steve. I spent hours on the phone with Russ (owner) when looking for a trick engine package for Prodigy. Long story short, at the end of the day there was not a single car I could look to for inspiration, and I had no desire to be the test dummy.

Basically I think it is street rod stuff.

JMO.

andrewmp6 · #7 08-27-2007, 10:19 PM

i was looking for dominion heads for a ford big block a 460 i found that site thought id ask about them. for the same price i can get a set of boss 429 heads.

deuce_454 · #8 09-24-2007, 06:08 AM

a Northstar is also a good bet if you are counting valves... but an Ls engine makes more power for less money...

andrewmp6 · #9 09-24-2007, 03:05 PM

a northstar no thanks dont need a boat anchor

Blown353 · #10 09-24-2007, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrewmp6

a northstar no thanks dont need a boat anchor

Boat anchor? Have you seen what the sandrail guys have been doing with Northstars the last few years?

I'd rather do an LSX motor myself, but guys are getting a lot of power out of the Northstars today. They're unusual and they look neat too.

I have seen 1 set of Arao heads up close... and they were indeed going on a street rod. Looked nice but they took a long, long time for the guy to get.

If I wanted something "different" that performed and I could get in a reasonable time frame I'd love to do an aluminum BBC with Arias heads. My dad used to run that setup on the blown alcohol hydro... worked very well and looked really trick too. You can probably get more flow and certainly less valvetrain mass out of modern head designs, but the Arias hemi heads just look wicked.