It was a long way across the convention hall when I laid eyes on what I thought was an odd looking cylinder head at the Edelbrock display. It looked pretty long, it looked pretty wide, and it looked pretty compact in the height department. My first thought was actually, “No way…” Yes way! Edelbrock has brought a high quality aluminum Duramax diesel head to market and we’re here to tell you that they did their homework. Having had the opportunity to hang out with the big hunk o’ ‘luminum we can tell you that this head is a nice piece that will allow diesel enthusiasts of the Duramax variety to get after it even harder than they already do.

The neat attributes of the head start to show themselves right from the ground floor. The material these things are made of and the way they are made start to show you how serious Edelbrock was in making sure that enthusiasts were getting the max bang for their buck. A356 aluminum alloy is the industry standard for components like this but Edelbrock puts the Duramax heads through a heat treating process that actually gives them more tensile strength, compressive strength, and hardness because they understand the types of stresses that these things are under when strapped to a boosted, high zoot diesel. Some of the things that this helps to prevent is lifting at high boost, dropped valve seats, and other problems.

The heads are available with a High Isostatic Pressing (HIP) technique as well. The HIP technique comes from the aerospace industry and the process is pretty mean. They take bare head castings, heat them to 900 degrees and then put them in a compressive chamber with up to 30,000 psi of squeeze. This takes the whole casting and presses out any possible porous areas, trapped gasses, etc. It increases strength and is another way that the company is trying to lead the way in this new venture.

Whether gas or diesel, engines depend on airflow to make horsepower and that is what these heads deliver over stockers or ported factory stockers. The valves have been spread apart by one-mm each and that allows for the use of larger diameter valves. This not only helps with air flow but it also helps by creating a larger diameter seat that allows for better head dissipation and minimizing that heat transfer into the head.

The meaty heads can be bolted on as they come or they can be ported and worked over as well. There is PLENTY of material to work with on these things and while the company is pretty modest in talking about the intended use of these babies (more street friendly engines) we’re thinking that they are going to be tested in the deep end of the hot rod diesel pool sooner rather than later.

Here’s a couple of photos. Stay tuned for more!