Edelbrock aluminum heads
 

Is anyone running these heads? They look like they're reasonably priced and they come with good valves.

Yes running, yes good valves. Had difficulty getting correct springs for HR Cam. The Marine version of the heads come w/o springs. They do not have a real thick casting. I would not use them on a high hp blower engine.

Ed B

When they showed the new 525 at Miami last year, If I remember right I saw a set of their heads on that motor. Not sure if Mercury uses them on all of them but that ought to tell you something about them.

Stop being cheap crazy :p A few good sets of AFR's and your big blocks will be breathin fire ;)

he's thinking for me Travis!!and I'm a tight a$$!!

Well you said it, i didn't ;)

Ol' Dandy Dyno Don has a lot a Dutch blood a flowin' through them vains! :D

Been tryin' to call ya Don! :(

Traviss, my motors breathe fire now.

Sure.. mr.. I got big blocks with bloooooowers ;)

Had their aluminum Performer RPM oval port heads on the 454 in my former boat. With their RPM oval port dual plane intake manifold, 227/235, .594"/.609" 112 degree hydraulic roller cam and mild 34 degree total ignition advance, the engine dyno'd at 464 HP and 510 Torque.

I wasn't looking for the last shred of output - more interested in reliable/no-fuss operation which they gave me.

Call my cell 403-4482 after 2:00 if I dont answer leave a message.

Travis you can give me crap when you got a wife a kid a house and a boat with 2 motors not one of them weed wacker power plays. Just razzin ya man!!!

wow you straight up called my motor a weed wacker :eek: :eek: right through the heart dude LOL! :p :D

weed wacker on roids!!I wish I had a couple of them every time I fill up!

if you had a couple of these running on 110 octane, you would have to sell your house :eek:

back to the topic. What heads are on your motors right now?

Merlin ovals...I'm building a spair mill right now so looking at the most cost effcient way to duplicate what I have. The edelbrock marine heads come with the inconel valves already in them....I'll probibly buy another set of merlins bare and assemble them the way I want them....unless I could make better power with the Edelbrocks..

ya, I like to buy the bare heads and assemble with the parts I prefer. I have never heard much about edelbrock heads and what people were getting with them. I beleive merc uses them on the 525, I read a article at one time that said that. The only advantage going to aluminum is weight savings and they are easier to modify cause of the aluminum. I would think the $$ you spend for edelbrocks you could get a set of brodix or something similier. There is also " pro topline" cylinder heads, you could look into them too if you get bored ;)

The edelbrocks are $1200 with the inconel valves in them. thats pretty cheap!

What brand inconel exhaust valves? I had an eaton come apart last september. I'm never going cheap on my valves again.
I think those Edlebrock heads come with steel guides. My local engine guy is a big fan of those Pro Toplines.......... for a budget head.

Here's an interesting comparison. My cousin has a pair of 454's (bored to 461 cubic inches). He had some stock GM cast iron oval port "junk" heads---these were NOTHING like the performance of the 049 or 781 castings! The chambers on these heads looked kind of like sort of a semi-open chambered head---not really known for a hi-performance head, however they DO have the larger intake runners than the current "peanut port" heads do. Anyway, we had larger valves installed (2.19" and 1.84" exhaust) and did some bowl porting by JimV. We ended up using the smaller 1.84" exhaust valves vs. the larger 1.88" exhaust valves because the smaller 1.84's flowed better than the 1.88's !!! It was because of the way the combustion chamber was designed that the larger 1.88" valves didn't flow as well as the smaller 1.84's. The 1.88's were too large for that particular combustion chamber design and thus hindered air flow.

The rest of these engines had dual plane intake manifolds, hydraulic FLAT TAPPET Comp Cams 218*/226* on 110* lobes, 830cfm Holley Carbs, 8.6 comp ratio. Cylinder blocks were bore notched.

On Tom Earhart's dyno they made 461hp @5100rpm and 510-lbs of torque @3600rpm and stayed within something like 15-lbs of torque from 3600rpm up to 5100rpm. Pretty impressive numbers for junk heads and a little work. This surely something worth considering.

Dyno Don, I would stick with the cast iron Merlin's you have now and have JimV do a little BASIC porting on them. You saw what numbers they made with Wade/Super V's engines which made 505hp @5400----unless of course you're bent on saving weight by going to aluminum heads. Then you have to ask yourself if it's worth the $$$ for what you're getting back out of going to aluminum. ??? I really think you'd be quite happy with what a little port work from JimV can do for you on those Merlins and the $$$ you'll save. Food for thought. ;)

I must admit Don, I do admire your tenacity in your search for more power. You remind me of myself about 15-20 years ago. :)

Really the weight thing was nver an issue with me my line of though is economic only. If I can put together another set of Merlins for the same ammount of money I will. $1200 with the valves is pretty cheap.

The Merlins are $1600.

Zanie- go with the Ferrea super alloy exhaust valves. The Manleys are 2 piece const.

Traviss- the alum heads also have an advantage for blower motors-better heat transfer=less prone to detonation.

Zanie the guides on those heads are bronze.I have a set of the GM performance heads that are Edelbrocks with the GM name on them.Mine came off a zz crate motor.I pulled the heads down and put the Ferrea severe duty exhaust valves in.I talked to Edelbrock about buying there valves but they were a name brand I didn't recognise and they were under cut stems.I was a little nervous of the undercut 11/32 stem so I oppted for the Ferreas.I also had a couple of guides that were tight,as in hard to remove the valve.I don't know who assembles the heads,GM or Edelbrock but ther quality control is lacking.

Another advantage to aluminum is they are repairable. Drop a valve in cast and you are done. Do it with alum and a $50 bill to the welder gets you back in biz. The edelbrocks do come with bronze guides.

Dave

Don't forget that agood aluminum head will allow you to run about 1 point more of compression without any detonation. That higher compression will give you about 5% more torque and 4-5% more horsepower in a big block. If you're runnin twins, check your top speed with a 200lb body in the back of your missle. Then remove the body and check your speed again, you'll be plesently surprised! However the law will be after you for dumping a body off!
Raylar;)

The thing that makes the Edelbrock heads attractive to me is the price, even if you decided to switch the exhaust valves.

But the price advantage goes away if you need to spend $200 on ehaust valves. I might as well but the Merlins.

Just FYI...

nearly every valve in factory automotive and heavy truck engines is manufactured by Eaton. Manley valves are Eatons, exactly the same valves as the Eaton private label, they just cost 3 times as much. Ferrea also uses some Eaton valves and put their name on em... It is true that Eaton friction welds heads on a lot of their stems... they also manufacture some valves from a solid piece of stock. either way i've seen em on the instron and they can withstand some pretty impressive tensile and side loading with a heckuva long fatique life...

Most lifters, flat and roller are manufactured by Eaton also... even the aftermarket hi performance rollers marketed by comp, crane, isky, etc.

I am an aquaintance of the gentleman that manages aftermarket sales accounts, etc... as well as a few folks with a lot of years of experience working in Eaton's valvetrain dynamics and durability lab...

Where are they available for 1,200 ?

1299 at Flatlander racing

I have heard the same thing jaroot. This is a fact I am sure marketing people at manley would just as soon leave unsaid :) Now we just need the brand name of the low cost valves that are identical to manley inconnel and SS.

Dave

yea, that would be nice.