m20 Amc head vs BMW 885

[actletpone]

Hi,
I have been doing some searching about these two heads. I am confused as some people say the AMC head is inferior/cheaply made and others say it is better quality / swedish made / has more 'meat'.

I have also read that some AMC heads are of an 885 casting, I have an AMC head but how do I tell if it is an 885 casting? Can an 885 head fit on any 'I' motor?

Also, I may or may not turbocharge the car one day with low boost on stock internals. Would it make sense to weld the water jackets and/or o-ring the block while I have the head off? or would that be seen as overkill on a NA motor, could it have any adverse effects to an NA motor? On a side note why is there such a big gap in the water jackets anyway, considering the space in the head gasket for the water to flow through is only two small holes?

TIA

[Cabriolet]

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=232555

[meengreene30]

This is the 731 head i'm running and pretty happy with. I always wondered what the circle cutout on the middle intake gasket was for on 885 heads, now i know.

[digger]

the stock AMC is rubbish.

dont use it unless you plan on getting it heavily ported and can fix all the problems.

the port size is a smaller (apart from the entry size) than the BMW 885 so there is alot of freedom to shape it but it needs a lot of labour.

There might be more meat but apparently more core shift so if you get a bad one there might not be enough meat everywhere to take advantage...rumour has it it is less likely to crack but not seen any evidence