Well let me ask you this. If it was easy and inexpensive to make 700hp with ported factory iron heads why is it you dont see many doing it. Plenty of ported iron heads out there still, well maybe not a ton as they are very prone to cracking, but plenty of cores. Are the rest of us just foolish to spend our money of aftermarket heads if the cost is less building a set of iron heads to make 700hp?

As for swapping heads from iron ported pieces to OOTB -1's that woudl not be totally a surprise to me, especially if they were right from Indy. Their valve job leaves a lot to be desired. I would also ad that the combination of parts required to make a good working unported -1 head to a fully ported iron head would be a good deal different, at least in my book.

In the end it is your money. Obviously ported iron heads can make decent power without breaking the bank, but at the 700hp level is the cost worth it? I have been in the .60's at 3050 on ladder bars with iron heads with a basic combo. But that is a long way from .40's at 3200lbs on leafs. The head flow is just not there to support it IMO. You can "fool" the engine into thinking there is more there with a VERY aggressive cam choice but with that comes a price tag as well.

We were running 9.30's with OOTB -1's with a 511" wedge for the last two seasons. Very mild, very easy on parts combination with no fancy parts. Why put yourself through the pain of trying to do it with iron heads? Been my question from the beginning.

Obviously you believe different, that is the joy of this sport lots of ways to skin a cat. Different strokes for different folks, so go show me I am wrong, I will be the first to congratulate you on the accomplishment.