school me on W-5s

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JDPdart

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I have a chance to buy new never used w5 heads they are brand new bare heads, doesn't even have valve seats. I know a little about W5s but still had some questions. i know about the rocker gear,intake and headers. my car is a 1970 Dart that I only drag race. My goal is a low 10 sec car.
1)I'm going to build a 1990 roller 360 for it would a large Hyd Roller cam be enough for the heads
2)I read about drilling oil drain back holes, where and why shouldn't they have that in the casting?
3)What kind of valve covers do they use are they the same as W2s?
4)Where is the best place to get ss valves?

Any other info is greatly appreciated please dont hold back I want to lean about them
 
The biggest worry with never used W5s is casting integrity. Before you spend dime one, have them pressure tested really well. They are known to have porosity problems. It would be best IMO to send them to someone with a lot of W5 experience to have them done. It's not a matter of just a valve job. They were/are great heads with a lot of potential - but also a lot of problems due to poor casting & manufacturing.
 
if i was to chime in, hydraulic lifters cant go past about 6500 rpms, even if you get the guaranteed superman brand or whatever science mumbo jumbo they feed you in their marketing literature. sometimes they pump up at 6200 rpms

if you want to go high rpms's (i'm guessing that is the case) then get off the hydraulic kick and go solid rollers. or if you miss a gear and flash it to 8000 and dont want to lay awake all night wondering if you bent a pushrod or something.

actually dont take my word for it, ask the guy at shadydell when you call him.
 
Thank you guys, I kinda figured a Hyd Roller wasn't going to work, ill go solid, and I will give Shadydell a call,anyone know what time they open i didn't see it on there web site?
 
JDPdart said:
Thank you guys, I kinda figured a Hyd Roller wasn't going to work, ill go solid, and I will give Shadydell a call,anyone know what time they open i didn't see it on there web site?
Click to expand...

He can be kinda hard to get a hold of, but well worth it. He ported my Edelbrocks back in 2009, and even with my pump gas compression and relatively small "street roller" cam, my car still screams....in my opinion, its mostly due to the heads. He does very nice work.:thumleft:
 
moparlover said:
if i was to chime in, hydraulic lifters cant go past about 6500 rpms, even if you get the guaranteed superman brand or whatever science mumbo jumbo they feed you in their marketing literature. sometimes they pump up at 6200 rpms

if you want to go high rpms's (i'm guessing that is the case) then get off the hydraulic kick and go solid rollers. or if you miss a gear and flash it to 8000 and dont want to lay awake all night wondering if you bent a pushrod or something.

actually dont take my word for it, ask the guy at shadydell when you call him.
Click to expand...

I will second this...stay away from the hydraulic roller unless you plan to keep RPM's low. Solid roller for max power, or solid flat tappet if on a budget.

I had a chance to buy a bare set of W5's...Talked to quite a few guys who work on the heads and are experts with them. I ended up passing up on the offer as I could just not get over the fact that they all told me the same thing- the crapshoot, even if brand new, is if they are thin and then essentially garbage for porting...You won't know till you buy them and test, and for me that was a crapshoot I didn't want to take.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Is the fact that they are a blue pluge head makes my odds better on a good casting?
 
mshred said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by moparlover View Post
if i was to chime in, hydraulic lifters cant go past about 6500 rpms, even if you get the guaranteed superman brand or whatever science mumbo jumbo they feed you in their marketing literature. sometimes they pump up at 6200 rpms

if you want to go high rpms's (i'm guessing that is the case) then get off the hydraulic kick and go solid rollers. or if you miss a gear and flash it to 8000 and dont want to lay awake all night wondering if you bent a pushrod or something.

actually dont take my word for it, ask the guy at shadydell when you call him.
Click to expand...

Mshreds post below

I will second this...stay away from the hydraulic roller unless you plan to keep RPM's low. Solid roller for max power, or solid flat tappet if on a budget.

I had a chance to buy a bare set of W5's...Talked to quite a few guys who work on the heads and are experts with them. I ended up passing up on the offer as I could just not get over the fact that they all told me the same thing- the crapshoot, even if brand new, is if they are thin and then essentially garbage for porting...You won't know till you buy them and test, and for me that was a crapshoot I didn't want to take.

Just my 2 cents.
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I 3rd this! Excellent and sound advice.
I picked up a virgin set from Tony above and will roll the dice. If they fail, it'll be Edelbrock Victors. (If they ever get released! LOL! )
They can and will use stock valve covers. The W2 & W5 have the stock bolt pattern for valve covers. Pick your cam based on the performance level your seeking. And with W5 heads, it ain't a meek cam you seek. I would do the solid roller hands down. A straight up solid cam would be the min.! and I'm not looking at min. with these heads!

These heads, the W5, were and are made to go fast.
 
rumblefish360 said:
I 3rd this! Excellent and sound advice.
I picked up a virgin set from Tony above and will roll the dice. If they fail, it'll be Edelbrock Victors. (If they ever get released! LOL! )
They can and will use stock valve covers. The W2 & W5 have the stock bolt pattern for valve covers. Pick your cam based on the performance level your seeking. And with W5 heads, it ain't a meek cam you seek. I would do the solid roller hands down. A straight up solid cam would be the min.! and I'm not looking at min. with these heads!

These heads, the W5, were and are made to go fast.
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Yup, they are a WICKED head if there are no issues with them from all that I have seen and heard about them...but you are taking a gamble (hopefully yours turn out ok).

And yes, minimum SFT, a roller for sure if you are really going to take advantage of them and the power they can make
 
If you're talkin about Indybrocks, no.
 
The other Indy heads come in oval and rectangle ports. Consider the oval a W2 and the rectangle a square port W2. There is one other head, the Brodix moved centerline head that will out flow a W5 by a little bit on the top end, not sure about the area under the curve down low. The above link to shady dell will show his numbers for fully ported heads of various W heads & makes. Remember there's 2 Brodix heads for the small block.

Thanks Mshred. I hope they do pan out. With luck, at the end of the year I'll find out.
 
I would go the Indy head route myself. I would get the heads CNC ported by Indy and have the valve job done by Brett Miller out of PA.
 
rumblefish360 said:
The other Indy heads come in oval and rectangle ports. Consider the oval a W2 and the rectangle a square port W2. There is one other head, the Brodix moved centerline head that will out flow a W5 by a little bit on the top end, not sure about the area under the curve down low. The above link to shady dell will show his numbers for fully ported heads of various W heads & makes. Remember there's 2 Brodix heads for the small block.

Thanks Mshred. I hope they do pan out. With luck, at the end of the year I'll find out.
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What engine/car are they going on???

sbmmustang said:
I would go the Indy head route myself. I would get the heads CNC ported by Indy and have the valve job done by Brett Miller out of PA.
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Just be careful with the Indy CNC...Atleast on the -1 heads, they can apparently be sprinklers in the exhaust ports (I believe those are the 245CNC's). My 360-2's were brand new, but I still had them pressure tested before doing anything to them just to make sure all was good.
 
mshred said:
What engine/car are they going on???



Just be careful with the Indy CNC...Atleast on the -1 heads, they can apparently be sprinklers in the exhaust ports (I believe those are the 245CNC's). My 360-2's were brand new, but I still had them pressure tested before doing anything to them just to make sure all was good.
Click to expand...
I agree I always check my stuff before I put it together.
 
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