M8...2010 Head on an 08/09 Engine

[tchriste]

Hi Gang, I would like to talk about running a 2010 M8 head on 08/09 M8 engines. The other day I had the chance to visually compare a 2010 head with a 09 head and one can see that the deck height is different. Has anyone run a 2010 head on a 09 engine? As it stands right now both D&D and RK Tek make a shim kit and head for the 09 M8 that add 15 hp. Apparently the base gasket for the 2010 is different as well. I'm wondering if all one needs to do is run a 2010 head on the 09 with a shim but that would depend on how much of a difference there is between the 2 heads. Ideas??? Comments??? Thoughts????

 

[wannaturbo]

not sure but heres my thoughts I own both of these sleds. The y pipe and the pipe are more like and aftermarket set on the 010 also peak Hp. 200 rpm higher, witch will give higher Hp.The head is interchangeble on 010 to lower comp. when turboing for pump gas this is done.Probably interchange other way as well but prob. will not give extra 15 hp. without Y pipe and main pipe.

 

[ZRrrr]

It's about $475.00 for the stock 2010 800HO head. You could get an aftermarket head for about the same or less. Or you could get Kelsey at RK to cut and modify your existing head for much less. To get the most out of it I agree that a Y and pipe are necessary.

Cat likely changed the ports and port timing to get the most out of it. Hence the head gasket change.

 

[white6]

Put the 2010M8 high compression head onto a 2009CF800 this year.. works great.. not sure if there is any horsepower gain for the CF800, but I know that it sure makes the M8 run wayy weaker.. The m8 was my bro's sled and the cf my dads.. but as 'wannaturbo' said, this change was made b/c my bro turbo'd the 2010M8 and needed the low compression head.. i do believe you need it whether your doing race gas or pump gas turbo.. as they made the swap in the beginning of the year w/ his race gas boondocker turbo on order.. needless to say he waited to frickin long for that thing b/c of all their issues he said screw it and bought the pump gas version.. when they get outta bed i'll ask the hp and shim/gasket questions

 

[tchriste]

so far I have found that the 2010 head will fit on the 08/09 engine with an increase to compression....apparently the 09 ran 12.1:1 and the 2010 run 12.5:1 so there is a bit of a gain there. I still don't know about the base gasket yet but will find out. I'm not too worried about the pipe differences etc as those are obvious, my interest is in the internals port timing etc(piston is a given). We know the 2010 engages at higher RPM, in many cases one loses bottom end to gain on the top and port timing is no different. At the end of the day maybe all Cat did was bump compression and new pipe to gain power but I had heard port timing was changed.