E-street vs Promaxx vs 440 Source

Which head ?

  • E-street

    Votes: 5 16.7%
  • Promaxx

    Votes: 9 30.0%
  • 440 Source

    Votes: 9 30.0%
  • Stick to your 452's, and do a little work

    Votes: 7 23.3%

  • Total voters
    30
-
Just Mopar Joe recently did a YT on the E streets. Not very good. Seats did not seal, seats too wide, machining grit trapped under the valve seals. Etc.
yes, Ed did it on moparjoe's channel.
 
That’s what I think he is talking about.
Why he didn’t name MoParJoe, IDK
I named Ed because he did the inspecting and findings, and owns the machine shop. Justmoparjoe is upright A-1 and drinks his coffee from a 318WR mug :)
 
I agree with you on the 3.75 stroke being enough. Buy the best cylinder head you can afford. The big block Mopar intake port is the biggest obstacle to overcome. I recommend finding a Holley street dominator intake. They make higher average power on the RB engines across the RPM range. Then, if budget allows, reduce the reciprocating mass. Put the lightest pistons for the available funds that you can find. Longer rods are good to reduce piston mass, but would probably blow the budget. They’re supposedly worth more high rpm output on a given head, but i don’t think your going to see the difference on a typical stock stroke street engine. But reducing the boat anchor weight of the reciprocating assembly means less mass to have to accelerate. It’s not as much of a free power issue in an RB as it is something that will help durability.
 
I really want to keep it as much as possible about the heads. Those that have experienced one or all. Valve jobs, etc etc. I believe all could easily support a 450-500 hp build. The rest of the build will be its own doings.
 
If i could get 465 ponnies out of a x headed sb.
Then i would say you should easly do it with a bb head. On a side note the x head did have a stroker kit in it.

Keep on rocking those cast iron heads.
 
yes, that's the same link i posted in the first post. These have really got my attention. I have the intake and aluminum water pump housing already.

That's the head I would run for a 440 like you're building. You need to call them and ask about availability, last they told me was they didn't know an ETA on castings..
 
You can get E street heads with the 75cc combustion chamber, a stock stroke 383 needs the smaller chamber to get compression up.
Yes…Exactly. Unless you run a positive deck piston on a 383 all the 80+ cc chambers don’t help much. Closed 78 cc chambers on the stock (closed) iron heads are about as good as you get (516) heads. Then you port and add bigger valves. So the e streets look good at a glance but the angled spark plugs don’t help my personal situation. Thanks 318 WR for posting this question. Swingn’
 
I'm a fan of the 440 source heads. Ootb worked great and looked awesome. I will never use a stupid heavy chunk of cast iron again on the top of my performance engines period, only on stock builds.
 
Of those three choices for unported 84cc pieces, the Ede heads flow the most.

The 75cc chamber version has some valve shrouding that knocks down the low/mid-lift flow.

I’ll take the Ede hardware (valves/springs/retainers/locks) any day over the Chinese heads.
I also like the seat material better.

The Promaxx castings have a kind of funky intake port shape at the opening(same as the SM, Sidewinder, Toth, Performance World, and a few others).

3B156615-F299-4BA6-9F83-7A60339963D2.png
 
Last edited:
When I’m using the 75cc head and want to keep the additional chamber volume to a minimum, I just hand blend the edges adjacent to the valve job.
 
Last edited:
Of those three choices for unported 84cc pieces, the Ede heads flow the most.

The 75cc chamber version has some valve shrouding that knocks down the low/mid-lift flow.

I’ll take the Ede hardware (valves/springs/retainers/locks) any day over the Chinese heads.
I also like the seat material better.

The Promaxx castings have a kind of funky intake port shape at the opening(same as the SM, Sidewinder, Toth, Performance World, and a few others).

View attachment 1715848306
Thanks for the reply! What about the 4th option, the 452's that are on the engine? Home-porting and a good valve job (including a good valves)?
 
They will be down a bunch of cfm to the Ede heads.
Very nicely ported big valve 452’s are barely equal to ootb E streets.

I have yet to see any “home ported” factory std port BBM head flow that much.

This is like what you need to equal an ootb Ede head:

D0422829-95EF-429A-925F-527D774EC82A.jpeg


4302187B-CEEA-43A4-8F5E-67DDC6C50911.jpeg


If someone thinks they can spend a few hours grinding on factory heads and end up with heads that are “just as good”, is someone lying to themselves.
 
yeah, so there is this possibility if the small chamber is needed and the budget is there...
512 B build almost complete
Ok, I just read through the thread in the link. Seems Ramm re-worked the valve job, port, and shrouding ??? I'm not paying 1450 bucks for a set of head, then having to pay a machine shop to do an adequate valve job, and such. If I'm paying 85% of a set of TF's, then I'll buy the TF's. If I buy any head, they will have to work OOTB. I can do some things at home with my dremel, but not a "new 5 angle valve job".
 
They will be down a bunch of cfm to the Ede heads.
Very nicely ported big valve 452’s are barely equal to ootb E streets.

I have yet to see any “home ported” factory std port BBM head flow that much.

This is like what you need to equal an ootb Ede head:

View attachment 1715848313

View attachment 1715848314

If someone thinks they can spend a few hours grinding on factory heads and end up with heads that are “just as good”, is someone lying to themselves.
Have you had a set of Promaxx through your shop ? I have not seen them in person, but those that have seem impressed.
 
Have you had a set of Promaxx through your shop ? I have not seen them in person, but those that have seem impressed.

This will ruffle a bunch of feathers, but the SM, Sidewinder, Promaxx, Toth, Performance World are all using the same casting.
Any real differences are in the prep.
 
If “you’re trying to make power”, the TF heads are by far the best bang for the buck.
HP range listed in my 1st post is all I'm shooting for..... at least 450, 500 would be super nice. I figure a factory 440 magnum had 375, just a set of headers and re-jet and you had 400 hp. I would think more cam and better head should be worth at least 50 - minimal target met. TF's easily over the heads I listed, but again, I'm not doing 2300 bucks for just heads on this build. People made 500+ hp for years without TF's on 440's.
 
Ok, I just read through the thread in the link. Seems Ramm re-worked the valve job, port, and shrouding ??? I'm not paying 1450 bucks for a set of head, then having to pay a machine shop to do an adequate valve job, and such. If I'm paying 85% of a set of TF's, then I'll buy the TF's. If I buy any head, they will have to work OOTB. I can do some things at home with my dremel, but not a "new 5 angle valve job".

i don't think the ootb edelbrock valve job would be IN-adequate...just if someone were to prep a head really nice then there is the possibility of truing up the valve job and deshrouding.
also, the E-street heads were very recently only ~$1200.

so i guess one advantage with the edelbrock stuff is, look at autozone's website and see the 20% off code. I do see the 5090 head listed there. so order from autozone, or call jeg's and price match.
 
i don't think the ootb edelbrock valve job would be IN-adequate...just if someone were to prep a head really nice then there is the possibility of truing up the valve job and deshrouding.
also, the E-street heads were very recently only ~$1200.

so i guess one advantage with the edelbrock stuff is, look at autozone's website and see the 20% off code. I do see the 5090 head listed there. so order from autozone, or call jeg's and price match.
as of today, I believe the E-streets are 1450 through Jegs/Summit. Maybe through autozone on discount or price match a set could be bought around 1200.
 
HP range listed in my 1st post is all I'm shooting for..... at least 450.

I get the feeling you want to be told whatever the cheapest route is, is the answer you want.

In that train of thought.......On a well thought out combo, essentially any factory head with a little rework can make over 450hp.

My 383 made 485hp with unported 906’s that flowed 235cfm.
 
I get the feeling you want to be told whatever the cheapest route is, is the answer you want.

In that train of thought.......On a well thought out combo, essentially any factory head with a little rework can make over 450hp.

My 383 made 485hp with unported 906’s that flowed 235cfm.
I guess "cheapest route" would be a way of saying it. I'm thinking "no unneccessary cost". I'm willing to spend, but I don't need to buy a Ram 3500 Diesel dually to pull a 2-place snowmobile trailer, if that makes sense. That is why I was looking at lower end aluminum heads. Weight saving plus if I can run them with just a home inspection, then great. If I can buy new valves, even have a 3-angle valve job, a little home porting/casting clean up and springs for the 452's and easily get there, then maybe that's my best route. By the way, sounds like a stout 383 with unported heads!!
 
-
Back
Top