440 Source heads..any good???

[Baghdad Dart]

My son wants to go with the 440 Source heads... http://www.440source.com/heads.htm ...anyone have bad news about them or have heard anything bad? To me they look great, but I am not an expert about something like this. Any help would be very helpful. he will be running them on a 70 440 that is near perfect shape. He is keeping the stock flat top pistons and just going to rering it. YEAH..its that clean. Also he is wanting to run a big cam with it 500/300 range. How will the compressiona and valve clearance be with them?

Jeff

 

[hamesdart]

im going through the same thing...
the heads i have heard could use better hardware if your going with a higher cam,, like retainers,locks,springs and valve job
many people with smaller cams, 500-510 or so i think are ok to bolt them on.
im going with a 540 solid cam so i need to check clearence with going to adjustable 1.5 rockers that raises lift too.
for a lower lift cam then that i wouldnt worry too much but to double check like im gonna you have to mock up the heads and everything and put clay on the pistons and check clearence....

 

[340sFastback]

What he said plus have a local shop go over the valve job and check all the valve guide clearances.

 

[moper]

They are a bit overkill for a stock piston engine. You gain little in terms of compression by bolting them on, and the ports are a bit better and bigger than factory, so it will feel sluggish low down. Also, you will want to check piston to valve clearance with that cam... I doubt it will fit with a flat top with no valve reliefs. You will be buying new retainers, springs and locks for a cam that large too.

 

[Longgone]

I`ve heard that they move air like the Edelbrock Performer heads and as the guys mentioned the springs are rated for lower lift cams. They seem to be a deal for the money though.

 

[redfastback]

We did a 440 source 500" stroker with those heads, a 284 xe cam/springs and it runs good and strong!! I have another 500" with the smaller 274xe comp cam that will be backed by a 4 speed in a 66 charger. I'll post an update when it comes back from paint and we fire it up...

Personally, I think 440 source has some good stuff. The first few batches of products had some bugs that got worked out, but that is to be expected. Brandon worked hard at fixing any issues that came up. I will continue to do do biz with him, hes a good guy.

 

[hamesdart]

yah the problems are mostly hardware....and clearence if you have stock pistons.
some say to do light bowl work and so on and so on.
the hard thing is you never know with stock pistons what exact clearence is for a cam
in my case i dont know if my motor has been rebuilt...decked...or has flat top pistons w/no valve reliefs at all so i have to pull the heads off and check.