nope never heard of them and for that fact and the fact that they are cheap as dirt would be all i need to know to say i wouldn't use them

 

thats the thing, I am looking for a cheap set of heads, not much of a budget, while on the subject has anyone ever use the Performance Heads, ads in Popular hotrodding and Hotrod?

 

okay you should really start of by telling us what you are doing, what is the engine, what is it going in, what transmission, what rear gears, street car or track car or a little of both, hopeful hp/tq or ET goals.

i do understand being on a budget but just because you're on a budget doesn't mean that you will have to buy garbage, you just need to tell us what you want and some of the parts you have seen and then we can begin to steer you in the right direction.

i certainly wouldn't use these heads, i would never use a set of heads from a manufacturer that i have never heard of, you can find decent performance parts out there for good prices you just need to know who makes them

 

How many times must it be said you get what you pay for. You're on a budget? You should get some Vortec heads, plain and simple. Best bang for the buck there is. Scoggins-Dickey has Vortecs with upgrades springs, gaskets, intake bolts, vortec-style intake manifold for a grand. By the time you pay somebody to dial those heads in, i.e., lap the valves in, check stem to guide clearance, make sure springs are set at correct height, clean up casting flash, check for straightness, mill heads for straightness if problems found, etc. What about the quality of the aluminum? Quality of the the valves and valve springs? The price of those heads is what a good set of valves alone cost!

 

X2, i also like the RHS pro torker vortec heads, they will accept both bolt pattern intakes, and they out flow stock vortecs by a mile

 

Well, i plan on buying a 75 nova or something similar. I have right now a 350 just a rebuilt engine completely stock. I would like to upgrade the heads, intake and carburetor, cam,etc., but stick with the stock rotating assembly for right now. Transmission would probably be a TH350 or maybe eventually a 700R4. for now stock gears, until I can figure something better for a rear end. I really don't have a need for full race stuff, just for now would like it a little warmed over, hoping for 375 to 400hp, is that to much to ask out of the stock rotating assembly?

 

no that's not too much to ask for but it will depend on how well it was rebuilt, do you know anything more about the motor such as what pistons are in it and what kind of crowns they have. i think this motor would likely be perfect for a set of aftermarket vortec heads a simple cam around 214-222° duration @ .050, performer rpm intake, 650 vac sec carb, and 1 5/8 headers. with this you will probably be a little shy of 375hp, i would guestimate around 340-350hp but you would have a ton of tq and tq is what makes a motor fun on the street, and with the type of cam i mentioned you shouldn't need to go over a 2500 stall, and you would be fine with a set of 3.42:1 rear gears

 

Sorry i cant tell you much about it other than it is similar to a jasper motor, but rebuilt by zazlock instead. What would it take to bump up the power to around 400?

 

Has anyone here ever used these heads? They seem really cheap for out of the box Aluminum heads.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Flo-Tek-Small-Block-Chevy-Aluminum-Heads,25120.html

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=443817 .These heads also caught my attention !! I am putting together a spare engine using up all the (wrong) parts i bought before i got " educated" by this forum. Many thanks to all the contributors.
Its going to be a mismatch of parts but i own them, and its goegraphically too far to return them !

 

Sorry i cant tell you much about it other than it is similar to a jasper motor, but rebuilt by zazlock instead. What would it take to bump up the power to around 400?

well then i would say that your best bet would be to pull the heads off since you know you want to replace them, then measure the displaced cc in the piston crown, find a piece of plexi glass and cut it to fit the top of the piston @ TDC and then drill a hole through the middle of the plexi glass, find a large syringe, one with at least 70-80cc total liquid capacity (this can be used later to measure the cc in the heads if you want) oh you should be able to find a simple syringe at a pet store, walmart or drug store, it doesn't need to have a needle with it. then clean the piston crown up real good and place the plexi glass on top fo the piston, you can fill the syringe with windex (i like it cause it is blue and easy to see) make not of how much liquid is in the syringe, then fill the piston crown up to the plexi glass and take a look at how much liquid is now missing from the syringe, then just do the simple math and you will be pretty close to piston crown cc relief. next you will want to by a set of feeler gauges from any automtive parts store, find a set that will detach from the screw (almost all of them do) and put the piston back up to TDC again and measure the distance from the outer 1/4" of the piston crown to the block surface, i take a steel straight ruler and place it on it's edge toward the top area of the cylinder and then take the feeler gauges and see what the gap is, this will tell you how much your piston is in the hole. you will need to know this to get proper quench (area between the piston @ TDC and the head) this need to be around .039-.046" so say you measure the gap between the piston @ TDC and the block deck and you came out with .015" then your best bet would be to find a head gasket that had a compressed thickness of around .025-.30" to give you the optimal quench. all of this will be very important when it comes to figuring out what cylinder heads you will need to run (combustion chamber volume) and figuring out your compression.

to bump this motor up to 400 hp will take some work, it proabably has nasty 76cc heads on it and about 8.0:1 compression so i would still say that going with a 64-67cc vortec head would ve your best bet to raise compression as well as to get a better set of flowing heads, but the cam it will require with a set of vortecs to make 400hp will be a little on the rough side for everyday street use, not that many haven't made it work, it would likely put you into buying a cam with about 228-232° duaration @ .050 and with a cam like this you would need to do work to the guides and put new springs on any vortec heads you found even the aftermarket ones (more than likely) i think on a budget (which is sounds as if you are) with the current motor you have a much more attanable goal would be 350hp/380tq, and this would still make a very fun street motor.

 

Throw a set of Vortecs on a GM Goodwrench engine, stab a mild Comp Extreme Energy 268 cam in it, top with 750 holley and throw some headers on it and enjoy 400 + HP and around 420 lb ft of torque. Better yet, put a XE 262 cam in it and bump the torque with a bit of sacrifice on h.p. level.

This really isn't rocket science anymore.

 

Throw a set of Vortecs on a GM Goodwrench engine, stab a mild Comp Extreme Energy 268 cam in it, top with 750 holley and throw some headers on it and enjoy 400 + HP and around 420 lb ft of torque. Better yet, put a XE 262 cam in it and bump the torque with a bit of sacrifice on h.p. level.

This really isn't rocket science anymore.

it's not rocket science but i hate to burst your bubble but the combo you just mentioned would even be close 400hp, maybe 350-360hp and about 380-390lbft, and with the .477" lift on that cam it will be past the stock capabilites of the vortecs, in order to fit this cam you would need a new set of springs and possibly a "getto-grind". and as many have mentioned before, do you research before you go out and buy one of Comps XE cams, you might just think twice about it, personally i wouldn't buy any of comps cams, there are far better and persable cam companies that will make things right if they do wrong by you, un like all i've seen from comp.

but aside from the comp cam this is about the route i would go, and i would try and find a set of vortecs that can handle .500" lift or so, personally i would look into cams from Howards (they are my personaly favorite), bullet cams, isky, or crower

oh and not to mention that a 750 carb is too much for this engine, and the added CFM from the carb wont make any more power it will just make it more of a PINA the tune. a simple 650 vac sec carb will be all this motor would need until it runs over 6000rpm, now a 750 vac sec carb would be okay because a vac sec carb will only let the motor use as much as it needs but i would still recomend against it, a 650 is all you need

 

Perhaps you should look up the Vortec Chronicles in Chevy High Performance magazine where they did a step by step build up using vortecs. Started wth stock cam, changed it out, recorded results. Did that with manifolds, carbs, rockers, etc. Do a search and find out how easy it is. Oh, by the way, have been running a XE cam for the last five years with no problems. C'mon now! Let's not make this harder than it is.

Link to a 440 hp engine with a XE 274 cam
http://www.compcams.com/community/articles/Details.asp?ID=1751487810

Heres the link to the 400 hp 420 lb ft goodwrench
http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/46467_gm_350_crate_engine_build_viii/index.html

 

they are assembled by tri state cylinder head and yes they are cast in china

 

Perhaps you should look up the Vortec Chronicles in Chevy High Performance magazine where they did a step by step build up using vortecs. Started wth stock cam, changed it out, recorded results. Did that with manifolds, carbs, rockers, etc. Do a search and find out how easy it is. Oh, by the way, have been running a XE cam for the last five years with no problems. C'mon now! Let's not make this harder than it is.

Link to a 440 hp engine with a XE 274 cam
http://www.compcams.com/community/articles/Details.asp?ID=1751487810

Heres the link to the 400 hp 420 lb ft goodwrench
http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/46467_gm_350_crate_engine_build_viii/index.html

i'm not saying that it's not possible, and i have read the same articles that you have but i also dont tend to belive everything i read. and i have found that when these magazine do the motors like this they are dyno mules and will never see the road so they can set them with any tune they want as long as it makes the motor look better. most of the tunes these dyno mules use will not be quite so favorable on the street in a real car. and when you actually see tons of people come in saying "yea is should be a 450hp motor" and then they end up running it, it falls far short at around 380-410hp and they say "I dont know what is wrong". it is not as easy as some people to make 450-500hp as some people thing. put it like this i run a 385cid (.040 350 w/ 3.75 crank) with 10.3:1 a Howards solid f/t cam 282/290, 240/250, 106cl, 110lsa, .525"/.525" with howard billet alm 1.6 rockers on the inake and 1.5 rockers on the exhaust, correcting the intake lift to .555". DART iron eagle 200cc platinum heads with about 800.00 in machine work and testing done to them, with a single plane victor intake and a 750DP on it, and i'm making just over 500hp (just over) i use an 850DP when racing it at the track. now this year i am going to do a test on one of the test and tune nights at the track where i'm going to take a performer RPM intake with a notched plenum divider and a 1" spacer with the 750DP and see what it makes me run. but anyway most people on here will tell you that a stock set of vortecs makes for a very good street motor, but it is not as easy as people think to make 450hp with them considering they only but out 227cfm @ .500 lift, 454hp would be at 100% volumectric efficancy, and that is far harder than people think to achive. take 452 x 90%= 406.8hp and this is still better VE than most people achive

 

aluminum heads.

Skip White in Tennessee has some procomp 190cc intake for less. I've heard reports both ways on those, but Skip says they are much better now and he stands behind them. I've been wanting to get a set and hoping someone knows something about the procomp that I don't. Skip sells fully CCd 220s for $850.. Bare. Ebay item number #370353056620 and item # 350356896522

If nothing else I like the fact that you can take a full compression point free for using aluminum to get your 400 hp and still run pump gas. I'd suggest a 9.004" deck height though.
Someone tell me about the procomp before I fall prey. :thumbup:

 

I have used two sets of the ProComp castings so far, one bought from local supplier and one bought from White. Both sets bought bare, I wanted to have control over the grade of parts used to complete them and would suggest that anyone using them do the same. White claims to use good parts and I have not had a problem with anything I have gotten from him, so I can't tell you for sure what he uses. Stay far away from assembled heads with ProComp spec parts, real poor looking stuff.

Both sets I have were the 210cc intake runner and they WILL need a port job to be decent flow wise, they aren't that great out of the box, but it is easy to see where the metal has to come out, it is real obvious where there is too much material cast into the port. 6 hours of porting cleaned them right up.

Word at other forums says the 190cc versions are a lot worse flowing than the 210's even when you take into account the difference in size. You will need to do a lot more hand work to the 190's to get anywhere. Also mentioned and data given shows that the CNC version from ProComp isn't that great, program seems to be set up to make them look good and machine clean every surface, not CNC machined for best flow.

Check out www.1320techtalk.com, there is some info there along with a good flowing CNC version being sold by Dr J's - the airflow guy.

 

"It's all in the Heads"

Hey Eric,...87z,
The people I hear most often say "It's all in the heads", are usually running asphalt or dirt track, and they already have everything in the short block that's legally possible according to their respective rules.
So with you two guys this the best thread I've read so far on Hotrodder.
Partly because you are both aware that it takes more than a couple of out of the box "bolt on's" to make 400 hp. a myth subscribed to by some in the younger set who are yet to experience what 400+ hp actually is.
Mostly because you've both actually done it and know what it takes.. Eric, You laid it out about like I had it figured on the procomps, and Z you're right on the money re your comments on the vortec heads. I've been working with them lately also.
Either one of you seen the most recent You Tube video of Skip running his ZCar with the heads CCd in his own shop? I'm going to try to find that link and post it here. Also going to check out Eric's link on the other source for CCd procomp. Thanks Guys Duntov

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drqqk3Z0bmE

This isn't the newest crate they have but it's suppose to have the CNCd 210s on it..

 

I bought a set of the big block oval ports ,before knowing what i was buying I had them torn apart and checked for installed height valve to guide clearance ,seats and if they were 1 peice valves,everything checked out but spring pressure had to shim .090 to get to were they said.I bought these complete from kmj. After being on this forum and reading and even talking to procomp I am going to spend the money on quality valves, springs , retainers, and locks. I wish i would have done more research and bought these from somebody else. i'm not taking a chance with a blown engine sitting in my face.also procomp is what i bought don't no anything about flotek prob. the same

 

I know this post is old but just wanted to advise the guy thats googleing or searching for reviews on the speedway flo-tek heads. Carcraft magazine did a story on best heads for under 1k and these were nothing short of strong out of the box. 381hp 409tq on a chevy 350 with a .500 lift summit cam with 1.6 rocker. Thats just about the same you would get out of vortecs without the added cost of a new intake and center bolt valve covers. Not to mention the machining for springs. Just sayin, it doesnt have to cost an arm and a leg to make power. Don't judge parts or potential just by looking at how much they cost. Just image these with some porting and more compression....:thumbup:

 

Yes they are good heads and are reasonably priced, made in China at a made in China price. A lot of heads from name brands are also at the least cast in China with finish machining done in the U.S. and are sold at made in U.S. prices. Some others are entirely made in China and also sell at made in the U.S prices.

I like to deal with made in America items when possible but I don't like paying made in America prices for made in China parts or tools. Not buying made in China parts or tools at decent prices isn't going to bring anything back here. The corporations, the government, and the green lobby industry all come to gether for varying reasons to essentially force manufacturing out of our country. Here in Seattle the goverment and greens have come together to defeat the tide water transfer of coal moving to China by ship from BNSF trains for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with the balance of trade. So apparently our nation's financial bleeding to death has nothing to do with these people. Apparently they can survive without your job.

Anyway off the soap box, Speedway has been in business for 60 some years, they are a going operation that stands behind their product. These are a decent head at a decent price.

Bogie

 

Here's the shootout....
Eight Budget Small Block Chevy Heads Tested - Car Craft Magazine