Is it ok to copy a W5 head and make it better or are we just mad at Speedmaster

[33IMP]

I guess im an idiot! Because I am just learning about all this right now! I have bought from speedmaster before, like you said black friday sale on a magnum intake i just couldnt pass up. I didnt know they were Chinese made and i didnt know they were knockoffs. I sure as hell didnt know about them selling product with other brandings on them like the broader valve bodies! I had planned on buying a set of heads and roller rockers this black friday! I had no clue this was the kind of business they were running.

Well, the copy of the valve body without taking the originators name off of it WAS a huge screw up, and they'll pay for it, but chinese copy of other people's stuff is not limited to speedmaster.
Pretty much anything with (my opinion only!) Jegs or Summits name on it will be a chinese copy. The thing is, they also sell name brand stuff from the real manufacturers. So, you have your choice of what you buy.
You can buy a pair of brodix bbc heads (what I really wanted) for $2000 plus, or do what i did. Buy a pair of big port bbc heads, with a single plane intake, cast valve covers, head gaskets, intake gaskets, valve cover gaskets, and roller rockers, for under $900. (I'm sure that kit is quite a bit more now, just like everything else since 2020).
As good as a Brodix topend kit? Of course not!
But the difference in price paid for my roller cam kit, and the speedmaster junk will get my junk to where I want it to run.

 

[Dartfreak75]

Well, the copy of the valve body without taking the originators name off of it WAS a huge screw up, and they'll pay for it, but chinese copy of other people's stuff is not limited to speedmaster.
Pretty much anything with (my opinion only!) Jegs or Summits name on it will be a chinese copy. The thing is, they also sell name brand stuff from the real manufacturers. So, you have your choice of what you buy.
You can buy a pair of brodix bbc heads (what I really wanted) for $2000 plus, or do what i did. Buy a pair of big port bbc heads, with a single plane intake, cast valve covers, head gaskets, intake gaskets, valve cover gaskets, and roller rockers, for under $900. (I'm sure that kit is quite a bit more now, just like everything else since 2020).
As good as a Brodix topend kit? Of course not!
But the difference in price paid for my roller cam kit, and the speedmaster junk will get my junk to where I want it to run.

Yea I agree with you and I'm right there with you. I can't afford all the big. Name brad stuff. That was a huge screw up that I don't understand how it happened in the first place. Why even machine someone else's brand on your part? Crazy part is the cheap knockoff that speedmaster was selling wasn't priced that much cheaper than the real thing.

 

[Cuda416]

Every aftermarket part for any factory built engine has elements of the factory original. At the most basic level, it's by pure necessity i.e. head bolt locations, intake and exhaust port location/shape (in most cases), etc.

I'm curious who the parent company that makes the speedmaster heads were mad at. They had to copy some elements of the originals, and likely other aftermarket examples to make there own.

I don't think this necessarily requires someone to be mad. It does take someone who want's "better"

What if someone could take a W5 and build in the improvements (some or many) that the super talented head porters do after the fact. That would be pretty awesome.

But to be fair, it could be because we're mad, but maybe we're mad because we know it can be done better.

 

[Spadman]

We have acquired a problem of lack of manufacturing capacity in the US from years of buying the cheapest. In the meantime China and others have built up their manufacturing capacity. My son looked for two years to find a USA manufacturer of a product of his design. He has acquired trademarks and patents that were very expensive for a startup company. In the end he had to go to China for manufacturing and had a long fight to get the quality he demanded but he finally got it. Now he fears tariffs will upset the apple cart, but in the long haul we have to get manufacturing capacity back in the states. It’s just not an easy problem to cure and will not be quick. Quality and cheap at the same time is not an option.