Well I got the bad Speedmaster taste out of my mouth

[pittsburghracer]

After those last two unfinished Speedmaster heads that they sent out uninspected to a customer of mine I was glad it was time to quit porting for the summer. Well that bad taste got to me so I grabbed two of my heads, did a quick bench inspection, drilled the 12 holes I tube, cut tubing and epoxied them in, and started porting. This all started after 11am and I almost finished the first head. Chamber work, final short side shaping, valve job, then a quick pretty up job, then this one’s done. Both heads by the way checked out good like the others 15 sets I’ve touched so one BAD set out of 15.

 

[318willrun]

To me, if these heads are bought on the Black Friday sale, it's just a real bargain. I think last year it cost me like 695.00 for a pair fully loaded to my front door. Hard to beat. In fact, you can't beat it. For you, 14 out of 15 sets were good. Should be 15 out of 15, but if they made it right, then it is 15 out of 15. Nice work by the way !!

 

[pittsburghracer]

To me, if these heads are bought on the Black Friday sale, it's just a real bargain. I think last year it cost me like 695.00 for a pair fully loaded to my front door. Hard to beat. In fact, you can't beat it. For you, 14 out of 15 sets were good. Should be 15 out of 15, but if they made it right, then it is 15 out of 15. Nice work by the way !!

Thanks but that didn’t make it right. As a mater of face they Dont offer seats or valve guides for these heads. I asked for one bare head for the time, labor, hours spent looking for parts, and I’m guessing a little over 200.00 in cash buying and trying to find parts and tools to fix their issues. The valve guide was .003 over sized and chambers weren’t machined on both heads. I talked to them on the phone, sent them pictures, four emails with zero return emails. Good luck if you find issues on these heads because it appears they just don’t care.

 

[Sublime one]

After those last two unfinished Speedmaster heads that they sent out uninspected to a customer of mine I was glad it was time to quit porting for the summer. Well that bad taste got to me so I grabbed two of my heads, did a quick bench inspection, drilled the 12 holes I tube, cut tubing and epoxied them in, and started porting. This all started after 11am and I almost finished the first head. Chamber work, final short side shaping, valve job, then a quick pretty up job, then this one’s done. Both heads by the way checked out good like the others 15 sets I’ve touched so one BAD set out of 15.

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As always great work John. Not to in any way divert the attention from lack of customer support by OEM.

 

[Dan the man]

I have a question about
speedmaster cylinder heads. If you buy them, say ready to bolt on and you have to put a grand or so because of poor quality machine work or parts, were is the savings? Wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run to buy edelbrock, trick flow? I'm just curious as I've read on here about guy's buying speedmaster cylinder heads and then having to rework them before they are useable.

 

[Icetech]

Love how smooth your grinding is.. mine looks like i made trenches then smoothed them out

 

[Icetech]

I have a question about
speedmaster cylinder heads. If you buy them, say ready to bolt on and you have to put a grand or so because of poor quality machine work or parts, were is the savings? Wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run to buy edelbrock, trick flow? I'm just curious as I've read on here about guy's buying speedmaster cylinder heads and then having to rework them before they are useable.

Don't trust edelbrock in any way.... they can't even drill holes in the right places on their parts.

 

[pittsburghracer]

I have a question about
speedmaster cylinder heads. If you buy them, say ready to bolt on and you have to put a grand or so because of poor quality machine work or parts, were is the savings? Wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run to buy edelbrock, trick flow? I'm just curious as I've read on here about guy's buying speedmaster cylinder heads and then having to rework them before they are useable.

Speedmaster heads out of the box flow better than Edelbrock out of the box heads and look 100% better. The one and only complete set of heads I bought from speedmaster were set up for a hydraulic roller cam. They cam with hardened valve spring shims, 10 degree retainers and keepers, and until that one head looser valve guided than Edelbrock heads which I’ve found some tight ones. I also discovered over the winter that the Speedmaster heads have more clearance around the intake valves and a nicer finish which really helps with the .100-.350 flow numbers. The valve springs looked very nice and had enough shims to use for a customer running a smaller hydraulic cam saving him money. I’ve never heard of anyone breaking a Speedmaster valve yet but I wish I knew who made them. I’ve heard rumors who makes Edelbrock valves but have never found proof. I think buying complete sets would help eliminate the issues I had with the one bad set I’ve found.

 

[pittsburghracer]

Speedmaster heads out of the box flow better than Edelbrock out of the box heads and look 100% better. The one and only complete set of heads I bought from speedmaster were set up for a hydraulic roller cam. They cam with hardened valve spring shims, 10 degree retainers and keepers, and until that one head looser valve guided than Edelbrock heads which I’ve found some tight ones. I also discovered over the winter that the Speedmaster heads have more clearance around the intake valves and a nicer finish which really helps with the .100-.350 flow numbers. The valve springs looked very nice and had enough shims to use for a customer running a smaller hydraulic cam saving him money. I’ve never heard of anyone breaking a Speedmaster valve yet but I wish I knew who made them. I’ve heard rumors who makes Edelbrock valves but have never found proof. I think buying complete sets would help eliminate the issues I had with the one bad set I’ve found.

I should add that ALL Edelbrock heads come with cheap azz 7 degree locks and retainers.

 

[pittsburghracer]

I think I’ll take a few pictures of what the chambers should look like properly machined from Speedmaster and maybe a mod can add it to our speedmaster post so if they offer the sale again guys can quickly open their heads up and immediately check a few things out so they Dont get stuck with a bad set.

 

[pittsburghracer]

Don't trust edelbrock in any way.... they can't even drill holes in the right places on their parts.

Pretty sure they fixed that issue as far as the intakes go. We told them about the issue and they fixed it. Unlike some companies. (Milidon).

 

[Icetech]

Pretty sure they fixed that issue as far as the intakes go. We told them about the issue and they fixed it. Unlike some companies. (Milidon).

Had to fix my own... will never not be mad... i think it's a irish thing

 

[pittsburghracer]

Had to fix my own... will never not be mad... i think it's a irish thing

Ohhh I agree. I charged 50.00 to move every single hole .115 so I didn’t make money on that part of the job. But it works and is a great intake.

 

[Icetech]

Ohhh I agree. I charged 50.00 to move every single hole .115 so I didn’t make money on that part of the job. But it works and is a great intake.

ah $50 a hole i think you would have made money, or did you actually weld them shut and redrill? I would have just ovaled had i known before i started grinding..

 

[pittsburghracer]

ah $50 a hole i think you would have made money, or did you actually weld them shut and redrill? I would have just ovaled had i known before i started grinding..

No 50.00 for ALL the holes. Laid them up and move them over with a small burr.

 

[Icetech]

No 50.00 for ALL the holes. Laid them up and move them over with a small burr.

hahaha ok.. the way you worded it made it sound like to move each hole.. i was like holy **** that's crazy

 

[rumblefish360]

I have a question about
speedmaster cylinder heads. If you buy them, say ready to bolt on and you have to put a grand or so because of poor quality machine work or parts, were is the savings?

This is the issue with every head from every manufacturer.
Bar none.

Wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run to buy edelbrock, trick flow?

You should look at it from the perspective of every head will be perfect OOTB & ready for service without problems.
If you purchase the head with intent of porting the head, then the head with the best possible outcome when ported should be the candidate to purchase.

I'm just curious as I've read on here about guy's buying speedmaster cylinder heads and then having to rework them before they are useable.

Dig deeper and you’ll find this with every head. Though I haven’t read this of the Trick Flow heads yet. If it has been posted here, I missed it. The only thing I’ve seen on the TF heads when they were dived into was from Pittsburgracer.

I also have not seen any extreme porting tactics on any head here. Generally speaking, it’s really not worth it since there is a better head to get and port if needed.

An example of this starts with the basic replacement heads. These would be the Speed Master heads, Edelbrocks, EQ’s, etc.

Stepping up would be at least a Trickflow or better yet, a MoPar W-2 or W5. Next step up would be an Indy cylinder head, then a Edelbrock Victor head and then a W-7-8-9.

Compare prices via a stock replacement head and porting services vs a OOTB trickflow head. The trickflow is already a 300 cfm head. Now, if you can get a CNC Speedmaster head on Black Friday cheap, compare flow rates to price. Ether way, both heads are at the presumed level of excellent and ready to run.

Remember, not all of the parts of a fully equipped head will be good for your intended build and hence why companies offer bare heads for a custom build. Add up those prices on the bare head and then porting.

This is always the conundrum people face when building an engine above and beyond stock or the ability of stock parts. A speed master head can be a terrific deal. Even more so when the Black Friday prices are caught and you yourself do the work with the head meeting your goals.

 

[TT5.9mag]

John, can you post a pic of your chamber work please? Maybe a before/after kind of thing.

 

[missing linc]

Nice work and excellent information as always, thanks John.

 

[pittsburghracer]

John, can you post a pic of your chamber work please? Maybe a before/after kind of thing.

Yes I can but I’ll tell you on a Speedmaster head that has been properly prepped from them it’s minimal. I’ll post them up today. The biggest issue is the sunken spark plug hole and that is up to the customer whether I address that or not.

 

[SS Lancer]

Don't trust edelbrock in any way.... they can't even drill holes in the right places on their parts.

As usual original owners sale and company goes to **** !
Since Vic is gone so is the Edelbrock name & quality we were blessed to receive !!

 

[pittsburghracer]

As usual original owners sale and company goes to **** !
Since Vic is gone so is the Edelbrock name & quality we were blessed to receive !!

As usual original owners sale and company goes to **** !
Since Vic is gone so is the Edelbrock name & quality we were blessed to receive !!

I’m telling you guys from the time I called and talked to them and the info and pictures were sent to the engineers it was a matter of a few months. Member Boosted joined in rattling the cage on the engineer side and the issue was fixed. Not years, not a year, I’m guessing 3 maybe 4 months max and I was even sent a thank you email notifying me it’s been handled. That’s great service in my eyes on a great intake manifold.

 

[pittsburghracer]

Ok I’m helping derailing my own post on “Speedmaster heads”.

 

[MOPAROFFICIAL]

After those last two unfinished Speedmaster heads that they sent out uninspected to a customer of mine I was glad it was time to quit porting for the summer. Well that bad taste got to me so I grabbed two of my heads, did a quick bench inspection, drilled the 12 holes I tube, cut tubing and epoxied them in, and started porting. This all started after 11am and I almost finished the first head. Chamber work, final short side shaping, valve job, then a quick pretty up job, then this one’s done. Both heads by the way checked out good like the others 15 sets I’ve touched so one BAD set out of 15.

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You maniac you.

Good job. Got clean lines on the windows too.

 

[greymouser7]

I have a question about
speedmaster cylinder heads. If you buy them, say ready to bolt on and you have to put a grand or so because of poor quality machine work or parts, were is the savings? Wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run to buy edelbrock, trick flow? I'm just curious as I've read on here about guy's buying speedmaster cylinder heads and then having to rework them before they are useable.

Not with Edelbrock. Edelbrock doesn't sell enough SBM heads to look back on quality control or care for their few customers within this slice of the market. Edelbrock literally throws mud into the eye of the adage that "American made is better" when regarding their SBM heads versus other aftermarket SBM heads.