Back in the winter of '97, my brother bought the stage V conversion heads for a 440 and assembled the engine for his race '70 Challenger The engine ended up being stroked to 528 cid.
We actually went to Pomona to the winternationals that year and picked them up at his shop in Nothridge, California. He was a really nice guy and was very informitave and knowledgeable on the whole process as i suppose he would seeing as he developed the whole package. He gave us a shop tour and showed us all of the development work he did including the bare castings, his cnc machine, the original hemi heads he cut apart and welded together, the modifications he did to them to make them work, blueprints, etc. etc.
They did work well and the quality of the machining was first rate. He lent us a tool to modify the block to accept the heads without question and after the process, we sent it back to him all the way from Canada.
As i say, he was a first class guy.
His last name was HANSEN and his name was cast in the heads. They were made out of aluminum and they honestly looked too good to bolt on an engine. My brother also bought a set of cast aluminum black wrinkle valve covers off him and they were one of the first sets cast that said STAGE V on them.
So yes they are real, and it was an affordable alternative to a 426 hemi back in the late '90s. Back then the good original hemi parts were as rare as chicken lips and turtle fur, and were going for outrageous money. He built the engine for a lot less than a real 426 hemi, and had WAY better heads than them.
I don't know if he is still in business, but he sure had a great product.
On the other hand, my brother also dealt with Ray Barton for the rest of the internals of the engine including a dry sump oiling system and he was a nightmare to deal with back then. It seemed like he didn't want to be bothered with such a "small" $6000 order as he put it, and saying that he was tired of dealing with Canadian orders. His words on the phone to me, not mine.
Ray Barton is actually a Canadian, so it surprised me in his attitude in genaral. I guess being THE hemi man went to his head.
Of couse this was before all of the hemi blocks, heads, and crate engines etc. were even reintroduced.
At the time, a good 440 block was $100 or less.
