Aluminum Head? Again?

I was at a gathering of funky car owners (and their funky old cars!) when I came across dis guy with a Mini and it had


an aluminum head from Pierce Manifolds. He really liked it. He said it ran cool and improved the low-end torque.

Since I'm going to be pulling my Sprite's engine apart to see if I can figure out why it's pumping air into the cooling system (ugh) and I might find cracks in the wrong places, this thing's on my radar.

---> The question: Does anyone else have any first-hand experience with these heads and if so, how well do they work? Do they hold their fluids nicely and separately? How do they affect performance? Which gaskets work, or not? Etc. I poked around with the search function and couldn't find much first-hand, real world info.

Thanks!
John T.

I have one (bought second hand) that I'm using on an old worn out engine. So I have no useful information to add.

My MOSS catalog that came yesterday is also showing a Cross Flow Head that is interesting.

Jim_Gruber said:

My MOSS catalog that came yesterday is also showing a Cross Flow Head that is interesting.

Click to expand...

I have had one on my warmed-up 1275 in my BE for 5 years, very pleased with it, no operating problems. I bought it from the guy who occasionally sells them on ebay, complete with valves, for much less than other vendors have them. Word is that they do need porting work for max output, but I slapped it on as it came out of the box and can't complain. You do use the BK 450 gasket instead of the copper-steel with this head to avoid galvanic corrosion.

My experience with the aftermarket aluminum heads is the castings are not as good as stock, the ports and bowls need a bit of work to be as good, or better than stock. In short, it is not a bolt-on improvement.