TURBO-DIESEL-FREAK wrote:
There has been a blending of the definition of "commercial vehicles" in the past few years. A lot of heavy-duty vehicles are being sold at automobile dealerships as commercial vehicles for the past few years. Redefining these vehicles as being "commerical-duty" is stretching the truth. NO WAY would I purchase any commercial duty vehicle with aluminum head/iron block architecture.
That's kind of a silly thing to say. Every major manufacturer produces a medium duty chassis powered by the exact same engine that's in their light duty truck. The Ford F5x and Chevy B and P chassis are exactly that, underpinning an enormous number of busses, delivery vans, motorhomes, and more. Yes, back in the old days these vehicles were powered by iron block/iron head motors, but everything was. The point is that they were powered by the same 5-7l V8s you'd get in a pickup.
That's still true today. Medium duty trucks are powered by the same engines you find in pickups. The difference is that today those engines have alloy heads, because virtually everything has alloy heads. Alloy heads offer lighter weight, better head management, lower cost to net superior flow, and are durable enough.
The only place you find iron head on iron block anymore are legitimate heavy duty trucks - Volvo VNL and whatnot. You're probably not going to find a commercial delivery van with a 13l motor, so whatever van you get - Ford, GM, Mercedes - you're going to have an alloy head.