Edelbrock Heads Sound Like They're Terrible

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Richie

Richie

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Hi everybody :glasses7:

Well I'm sure no expert but this guy sounds like he knows what he's taking about. I'm shocked! I realize this is a long video but for people who know a little but aren't mechanics like myself and are maybe considering buying a set of these you should watch this video. Sound comes on after 2 minutes and the Edelbrock subject about 6:30.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoGAgggy874"]340 mopar rebuild n dyno.edelbrock heads caponeauto - YouTube[/ame]
 
Now you know why I bought a used set of these - and then Mike at MRL Performance fixed them for me. I had about the same as the price of a new OOTB set in them and they were actually right. Still better to deal with than an old set of factory heads.
 
Nothing..I repeat NOTHING should be bolted on right out of the box...
I just fast forwarded through the video,but those VSI washers are hard and pose no problem for joe average with his 230@50 type of cam.Sure a cup would be better but the person who would be thinking about using these heads OTB would never pay the extra $$$ to machine for cups.
The other thing is always hone the guides,every Ehead I've had in my hands have had a couple of tight guides...
In the 35 plus years I've been doing this I've NEVER seen a part that I would use straight OTB...
 
Sounds like it would be better to buy the heads bare and have them assembled.

Would this be a better route? More expensive than buying assembled and having them gone through?
 
I was lucky to have bought a pair NTB from a local member to me.I saved the cost of full price,also shipping and taxes.I had the mildly P&P,flowed and springs,shims for a roller cam,roller rockers.At the end of all the work and needed parts I,m in at least $3500 into my heads.I,d probably have close to $4500 in them if I bought new and had shipped,taxes blah blah.I know this sounds expensive,but we all know,to get real HP and torque #,s out of a SB stroker engine you need good head work.I,m happy with end results and being able to run 10,s on pump gas.Buyer beware,your gonna need to spend some extra cash to have these heads checked and worked for best performance.JMO
 
I tell my customers this time and again. You will have $2000 into a set of plain old RPM heads to make them a GOOD usable part.

Some of the other things not mentioned are the bad valve job, horrible core shift, tight guides, cheap springs, cheap valve seals and I have seen my fair share of metal shavings in them.

They do perform well, but it takes some doing!
 
Richie said:
I'm just getting a set of Dodge J heads rebuilt with 2.02s put in.
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p

Good enough. How does .002 even effect a hydro rocker setup or an adjustable? I had a set of edelbrock spring pockets, thought it was weird they sold them seperately.
 
I've always set a goal and spent the minimum amount to get there. A set 308's off of a 88-91 360 are easy to get, cheap to have a valve job done, and mild porting can be done at home! They will be suitable from mild to wild street cars. They will even work well on a Bracket Drag Car! Too many over spend, and under achieve....
 
Sad but true. You have to check every detail on everything. Things that you already spent your hard earned money on that should have been correct in the first place.
 
IMO the RPM air gaps are over priced as well. Have had 2 of them with horrible core shift. One of them the divider on the duel plane was so far off center that a holley 650 butterflies hit it. Would only open 1/4 throttle. And the ports are so far off from a gasket that it is a joke. The Chinese versions are a lot closer OOTB and that is sad for an item that is almost 1/2 the $
 
If you plan on running Edelbrocks straight out of the box, you can "fuggin foget about it". Any more videos of this guy? Seems to be a pretty funny guy.
 
Well, I can't disagree with most of that video, although I'm sure he could've got a couple more F bombs in there if he tryed harder,,,lol.
For a guy who talks so much about being precise while assembling, he has one sweet work bench. Lol. Funny cause he has some good tools for a home garage.

Can you just buy a fuggin hardened washer for under the fuggin springs? So no fugging machining for a cup?

Fuggetabawdit
 
Richie said:
Are Edelbrock's intake manifolds still good or are Weiand's better?
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Have a Weiand Action Plus and love it. Gobs of low end torque for a street engine. I have had great experiences with Weiand.
 
Edelbrocks are still sand cast, Professional-Parts (Chinese) are steel molds, hardly any core shift, much tighter tolerances. Still look them over for casting flash though. I believe they are worth it. But could they have the CHINA on the bottom in any larger font? Its HUGE!
 
pishta said:
Edelbrocks are still sand cast, Professional-Parts (Chinese) are steel molds, hardly any core shift, much tighter tolerances. Still look them over for casting flash though. I believe they are worth it. But could they have the CHINA on the bottom in any larger font? Its HUGE!
Click to expand...

Pretty sure you can only use the moulds on the outside...still have to use sand for the internal passages and ports....unless you know of a way to extract steel from compound curvatures within aluminum without destroying the casting that was just poured.
 
As Rob said - never run anything out of the box. RPMs have issues - Indy has the same or worse, Stealth, same deal... I haven't had as bad an issue with core shift but guides, seats, installed heights (which is your rocker geometry), wrong/missing parts, cheap seals, and debris left in them are all what I've found problems with and they all have it. In terms of dollars - you need to be honest with yourself and the machinist. A good set of iron heads (not ported, but cleaned, magged, new guides, exh seats, cut spring seats, a 5 angle valve job, milling of head gasket and intake surfaces, OS valves, shims, seals, retainers, & locks - all costs and yields an open chamber head that's fairly heavy, and fairly limited in terms of performance unless you pay to port them, and iron porting can be more $$. The decision is not just cost. You get a more modern chamber to build with, a lighter part, and with no porting a gain in airflow going with the RPMs (or others). For a few hundred less you can get most of that with the RHS/Indy iron Magnums but they are heavier than the factory iron. In my experience the iron runs around $1400/set to get ready to install, the RHS about $2200 (plus rocker setup), RPMs about $2500 with the right head gaskets. None of those would be ported but all would gain a little over advertised flow rates with the valve job.

As far as intakes go - again - they all have issues. The Crosswind/RPM debate is constant. I know what my experience is, and I won't run a Crosswind.

As far as the steel/vs sand casting - The voids in any cast product have to be filled with something before the aluminum goes in. Sometimes is sand, sometimes it's foam, probably some other stuff too - at least going by the surface features "as cast" of the stuff I've seen. Pro Products uses sand judging by the castings I've handled.
 
When building an engine nothing should be taken for granted. My cousin had a set of RHS and the intake valve seized in the guide.
 
Don't get me wrong. I like my RPM air gap. It just needed a couple hrs of work to make it match up nice to the gaskets. I could have run it OOTB but it was far from its full potential. At least there is extra material there to work with. Its all good now and they make good power.
 
273 said:
When building an engine nothing should be taken for granted. My cousin had a set of RHS and the intake valve seized in the guide.
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...pretty sure it happens to every aftermarket mfr. AFR used to install valves that were too heavy and springs that weren't suited for anything north of 6k rpm, but yet they advertised up to 6500 but people bought them in droves.
 
MRL Performance said:
I tell my customers this time and again. You will have $2000 into a set of plain old RPM heads to make them a GOOD usable part.

Some of the other things not mentioned are the bad valve job, horrible core shift, tight guides, cheap springs, cheap valve seals and I have seen my fair share of metal shavings in them.

They do perform well, but it takes some doing!
Click to expand...

Best answer, I've seen here. Bought, the 65 c.c. chambered set. Horrible core shift,one tight guide. One valve seat,took a while to set in with a valve job. Some porting, and some TLC helps immensely.
 
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