Without personal experience, I ca not say for sure but When talking in discussions with several different Professional Cylinder Head Porters, here is my conclusions. The AFR is seeming to be ready to go for most applications right out of the box. The one guy I know that has gotten more from AFR heads than anyone else including this AFR 357 is Joe Sherman and he does not run them exactly as they come right out of the box. He does some minor (his words) Touch up porting on them and goes to great efforts to be able to get a 7 /16 pushrod to fit in them.
For my use that is the major hold block. I run or build street engines using 3/8 pushrods. I am not even about to use them when I am seeking 1,000 hp or better. The guy I talked with at AFR was not much help. He did seem to know a lot about his product sorta. He was very vague about what brand of valves the heads would have if I bought them. I did not like that.
What turned me off the most was his response to my question about if it was possible to modify them for extra charge to accept a larger pushrod than the 3/8 he said fit it. His words almost exact were if I knew how to use the proper springs and set them up right, I should have no problems using the 3/8 pushrods. Or I could buy them from them already correctly set up with the right springs. What springs would that be, I asked. He said do you need roller springs or hydraulic springs. I told him roller springs. His response was if I bought he heads complete instead of bare like I asked that AFR would set me up the proper springs for a roller cam. O' Boy. That useless bit of tech garbage turned me off further. I may still buy them but he did not help me decide for them. I have to check further to find out if they have enough meat for me to modify them for bigger pushrods. if not. No way.
Oh' I did tell him that he should also tell Warren Johnson and Bill Jenkins they are not using the correct valve springs either being as they are needing and using 5/8 pushrods. That guy made me mad. I use the 3.8 for street engines only. I guess he doesn't know about pushrod flex.
The Brodix -3 head is pretty much known to cylinder head guys as not coming close to advertised flow numbers from the box, but will work very good after professionally ported.
Oh' Yes, The AFR 357 is reported to be very close to advertised flow specs, but the exhaust specs are gotten when using a curved pipe appx 12 inches long attached the the port. Many mfg also use Pipes to show better numbers.
The BMF is by reputation an awsum head but once again the flow numbers advertised do not seem to hold up on other benches.
My personal opinion is the better head with more potential is sold by one of our members right here. CBoggs or Curtis Boggs. Proprietor of Race Flow Development.
If you want an awsum Cylinder Head that will end up leading the field in it's price range and size this is the one. Get the benefits of a custom ported head for a manufactured out of the box head price. I am very impressed with the potential of this one. Flow numbers are extremely accurate on a NSME certified Flow Bench. He does not use any pipe to enhance the numbers either. I can only imagine what the exhaust would show with a pipe added.
http://<b><a href="http://www.racefl...t.com</a></b>/
In case anyone is listening, I am putting my money where my mouth is.
Ed