Edelbrock heads

-
joes68340s

joes68340s

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2005
Messages
856
Reaction score
94
Location
Rescue CA.
Anyone run edelbrocks out of the box with success. I here they need to be torn down and checked at the guides and seats. I want to run them in stages on my 340. Stock then port them. Thanks
 
I would have them checked out,just to be sure they're ok..they may need nothing but best to be sure..thats sounds cool using them in different power levels,some guys out there in the NINES with them..
 
I have heard many claims of running them right out of the box with success. I have also heard of problems (ex. tight guides, etc.) occuring that could have been taken care of if they were disassembled/checked. As stroked suggested, it would be wise to have them checked even before running them.
 
Any new head assembly gets checked before i run it. Do you "have to". No. But IMO, if you're spending $1500 on a set of heads, do you really want to not get everything they are capable of? In a production line, any production line, you get a range of quality. It's built into the business model. At one end of the scale is perfect, at the other is so bad it damages something when it fails. So many failures are also built into the business plan. It costs me another few hundred, but on a build where I'm spending $X thousands, a few hundred for insurance against "average" and "below average" just makes sense. Visually you cannot see the deficiencies until you try to bolt on the rockers and check the geometry. Otherwise it's pretty much all hidden until something fails.
 
I agree with checking them out.

However, OOTB E-heads hit my 360 and ran without issue into the mid and low 12's. (FWIW)
 
If your spending $1500.00 one would expect a product to run "Out of the box" I guess defective products are expected? And we are O.K. with that?

Not for my money! Let's say you spent $1500.00 on machine work on your block. When you get it home you have to do some clean up and re-tap some bolt holes and then find some other flaw. Would you just expect that? Or would you run right back to your machine shop and demand they do it right?

Quality is quickly fading in all sorts of businesses, What a shame!

John D. Beckerley
Austin, Texas
 
Don't get your undies in a wad.

Edelbrock has very high quality out of the box. I would put their heads on and not sweat it for a second. The odds of some catastrophic failure occuring at the fault of those heads is extremely low.

Everything can be massaged to make more power than an out-of-the-box solution, or at least that's what the machinists who want your $$$ tell you. And any machinist you pay to do a "checkover" on an out of box solution is going to tell you he found something, so you'll come back with your next set of heads.

That said: Would I blow out the ports to make sure there aren't any shavings in them? Yes. Would I verify the torque on the rocker studs? Yes. Would I CC at least one chamber on each head? Yes.

Edit: All THAT said, Im really happy with the Iron Ram heads I got from Hughes. Cheaper (and heavier than) than the Ebrocks, but they came set up very well, and the valvetrain hardware was really nice also.

Steve
 
My reply was not a slam on Edelbrock, Just a comment on quality in general!

John D. Beckerley
Austin, Texas
 
So watching the needle of the runout gage when checking the concentricity of the seats is simple gimickery for cash? And they set it up so the seat cutter they use only hit one side fot he seat initially? Interesting concept. I fell for it...lol. (and yes, years ago I said "that's BS... show me")
I do agree the failure rate is low. But in terms of business, yes, a business accepts that some of the product will have such issues. In other RPM heads I've found: a single spring with no dampener (spring was defective, but got installed on the assembly line anyway). A retainer with only one lock on it (catastrophic failure imminent if not caught during inspection). At least 3 of 8 exh guides that I measure on every set have less than .0003" clearance. Yes, that's 3 thenths of a thou and the norm is .0005-.001 clearance on exh guide to valve stem. I've used 5 sets of RPMs I unboxed. All 5 had seat and guide issues. We don't have to accept the issues. We can shop elsewhere or deal with it. The Hughes heads as sold... ARE ALREADY CORRECTED. They are sold to Hughes as bare castings and Hughes does the work.
 
plenty of guys have run them right out of the box but its cheap insurance to have them checked out in my opinion.
 
I ran my Eddys "OOTB" on my 360 way back when (My buddy checked them over for me at the time)...that pushed my Barracuda into the mid to low 12's in street trim. I had the Eddys stage 2 ported from RyanJ, and I stoked my motor to 410 cubes Last year, I'm looking to go into the 10's this year.

Like the others said, it would be wise to at least check them over before you run them.
 
I would never run any aftermarket (or OEM for that matter...LOL) part OOTB without at minimum a thorough visual check. Yes many have run Eddy (and other heads) OOTB with success, others want the peace-of-mind that comes with an inspection. I would at the very least get a sample of chamber cc's and disassemble to inpect the vj and guide/retainer clearance.
 
I had a local shop quote me $250 to go over the valve job, valve guide clearance, and touch up the ports on a new set of Edelbrocks. In the end I decided to buy them from Shady Dell Stage 2 ported but if I didn't do that I would have had the local shop go over them.
 
Always good to have them checked.

also check spring psi's installed/mid lift/open/rate to see if it's right for the cam you plan on using.
Keep an eye on push rod hole clearance too.

Enjoy, best of luck!
 
My point was this:

Don't avoid buying Edelbrocks because of Internet rumors. AKA Edelbrock is not a company that has quality control issues.

You obviously do a visual inspection of a part before you install it. If you have to pay a machinist to see that a valve lock is missing, or a spring is messed up, you shouldn't be R&Ring cylinder heads. As far as the guides being tight goes, I expect the reason is that Edelbrock has a different tolerance than you do. Whether that's good or bad is probably for you and Edelbrock to argue about. LOL!

I should have explicitly stated that one of the reasons I like the Iron Rams was because the machinist inspection/labor was included in the initial price of the heads. Also, since they're built-to-order, you can get all kinds of crazy options straight from the get-go.

If you're really going to "do it right" with the Edelbrocks, you're going to buy a bare set and get good springs, valves, valve job, combustion chamber volume etc. all set up by the pros anyway.

Steve


moper said:
So watching the needle of the runout gage when checking the concentricity of the seats is simple gimickery for cash? And they set it up so the seat cutter they use only hit one side fot he seat initially? Interesting concept. I fell for it...lol. (and yes, years ago I said "that's BS... show me")
I do agree the failure rate is low. But in terms of business, yes, a business accepts that some of the product will have such issues. In other RPM heads I've found: a single spring with no dampener (spring was defective, but got installed on the assembly line anyway). A retainer with only one lock on it (catastrophic failure imminent if not caught during inspection). At least 3 of 8 exh guides that I measure on every set have less than .0003" clearance. Yes, that's 3 thenths of a thou and the norm is .0005-.001 clearance on exh guide to valve stem. I've used 5 sets of RPMs I unboxed. All 5 had seat and guide issues. We don't have to accept the issues. We can shop elsewhere or deal with it. The Hughes heads as sold... ARE ALREADY CORRECTED. They are sold to Hughes as bare castings and Hughes does the work.
Click to expand...
 
2 years ago I purchased my Eddy heads and I also ordered a set of arp bolts. While trying the bolts manually I noticed that the bolts next the pedestals that feed oil to the rocker shafts did not go thru. Looking thru the bolt holes I noticed that the area where the oil passage from the pedestal meets the bolt hole on both heads was restricted by what looked like a small ball of aluminun shavings protuding into the bolt holes. Since I live about 15 miles from the Edelbrock headquarters I took the heads to them and after 3 days I picked them up.
Obviously poor machining is the only explanation. Over all I think I was lucky If the restriction had been midway I would have never noticed and after installation I would have had lots of fun figuring out why oil wasn't getting to the rockers .
Moral- Add this to your check list. It only takes a few seconds to check...
 
I see it as being really no different from checking clearances on a crankshaft. Most likely, everything is as it should be and you can just bolt it in and run it. However, if something that would've been easily caught before lighting it up causes an issue, the time spent making sure would've been really cheap by comparison.
 
Have a set of OOTB eddies on 73 Duster, been running for 5 yrs now.
 
I agree that anything OOTB needs to be checked. I have 150 passes on my OOTB SB edelbrocks and they have performed well but I did find some issues which were corrected like spring installed heights, metal shavings,etc. I wish I had done a valve job on them. Now that they are off the engine that is what I plan to do. Overall they are a good product and I am very happy with them.
 
Fishthatkills said:
If your spending $1500.00 one would expect a product to run "Out of the box" I guess defective products are expected? And we are O.K. with that?

Not for my money! Let's say you spent $1500.00 on machine work on your block. When you get it home you have to do some clean up and re-tap some bolt holes and then find some other flaw. Would you just expect that? Or would you run right back to your machine shop and demand they do it right?

Quality is quickly fading in all sorts of businesses, What a shame!

John D. Beckerley
Austin, Texas
Click to expand...

This is why I much prefer to buy a bare casting and have a competent machinist make them into a complete head. Sometimes it costs less that way, sometimes more. But in the end I have never had issues doing things this way, and I get things exactly how I want them.

And this is with any head for any motor. Nothing in specific.
 
If you go with the Edelbrock heads, open them up and check the guides. I installed a set of Eddy's on my engine 2 yrs. ago and I woofed THREE sets of rockers (stock, stamped steel...) by punching the push rods through the tips. I was putting off popping the heads off and have been taking it easy, but now they seem OK.

They must have "broken in".... :-D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top