[brickhead]

hey guys,

i recently purchased a 37 chevy coupe. it is a great cruising car and show car, not much in the horsepower department though. it is running a 1980 350 sbc, recently rebuilt with a mild cam and crappy stock heads. i wanted to pick up a set of aluminum heads, just for the extra wow factor at the car shows. i was going to purchase a set of dart pro 1 180cc heads, then i saw an ad on ebay for patriot 195cc heads. are these things any good or are the just some more imported junk ?? thanks for any info you guys can provide.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SBC-...1QQihZ016QQcategoryZ33617QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Aussie XAXB]

I am usually not a fan of Chinese made stuff, but it appears that Patriot, or the ebay seller, is handling a lot of the fine machining (porting, etc.) themselves for better quality. At Patriot's website the flow numbers look real nice too.

Typically with Chinese castings there is excessive casting flash. It looks like that is being cleaned up prior to shipment to the end user, though I am not sure what the guy is doing with a screw driver in the intake port?

My only other concern would be the quality of the head itself. Their metallurgy (China's) is not the same as ours and it may be higher in silicone content making it less strong. Also I would be leary of internal cracks or impurities in the aluminum. Those would be the reasons I would shy away from them unless there is some kind of sonic testing or x-rays or something to prove quality, as well as an alloy composition list.


Steve