I just scrape my underwear with my new Harbor Freight knife.
Is it ok to copy a W5 head and make it better or are we just mad at Speedmaster
- Thread starter pittsburghracer
- Start date
-
I just scrape my underwear with my new Harbor Freight knife.
I'm sure it'll hurt a lot of people's feelings, but until someone other than me starts funding my life and my car I'll continue to keep buying the parts that I can afford and that will get the job done, regardless of country of origin.
No need, plenny oh Chaneese launry righ herah in Americah!!!
That wouldn't be Chinese sh*t in there would it?????
Like I said I tried fighting this battle back in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s when maybe we had a chance but everyone wanted their foreign cars and cheap
Products. So after that I got off my soapbox and like you just bought what I wanted when I wanted. Nobody pays for my life but me.
AMC Diplomat
Well-Known Member
Evaporust when it's on sale, but that's already made here.
Again, if the argument is no one can buy 100% American so you might as well not buy American at all, then that's silly
Edited for typos
Last edited:
You have to change a product 10% to not be infringing on a patent. However the knock offs don't even care about that.
Tom
Dartswinger70
Well-Known Member
Yup anything has foreign parts in it PC boards, the main brain that makes it work etc. I sometimes wonder if i should repair my Maytag that is 20 years old or get new...the thing sgshakes so bad its getting on my nerves but...I attest that the new shock absorbers and parts that I might order are made overseas maybe...?
And this applies to American patients being made in America. Read those patient rules and the 20 year protection and built across the ocean voids everything.
Yep. No rules there. Also no OSHA, labor unions or EPA. (among others)
Our steel mill would make us watch a movie every year on what we were up against as far as working conditions and air pollution rules. It’s a stacked deck for sure.
Dartswinger70
Well-Known Member
Nobody cares as long as you don't cite "how much ya got in it" at resale time...
its like Harleys the cheap chinese add ons aren't worth anything at resale...
now vintage MP race heads that still work ? different story...
So after 5 pages I guess we can agree that it’s ok to bend the rules when it benefits us. Like I said earlier I would have been stuck running high 9’s for probably the rest of my life with stock parts that I had to throw on the scrap pile after three years. But my house and shop is full of offshore parts, tools, and appliances. The new W5 head will probably come along to late for this guy but I welcome a copy of a Mopar product for the younger guys up and coming.
Newbomb Turk
Well-Known Member
So is Miller doing the W5 thing?? I heard he wasn’t doing it.
Dartswinger70
Well-Known Member
Most guys "on the cheap" aren't really going that fast are they? Low budget guys always hit a wall at some point. I've been in the arguments with 318 guys it sometimes ends up at "well the 318 is better on gas..." at that point the conversation is over because we are no longer talking performance which is where the discussion started out. if someone is crying about money they aren't going fast or building a decent restored car. it isn't 1990 any more Mopars have been expensive now since the early 90s at least 30 years in terms of restoration etc. I had people telling me to buy Speedmasters instead of rebuilding my J heads...what about when the machine shop folds up and then you need it? Cheap guys don't fare well in the end. This may be a whole nother subject but yeah alot of people are out for themselves, they pride themselves on being cheap. thing is they are also not competitive in terms of racing or having a high performing street car . Being somewhat knowledgeable of business economy and what year we are in, I don't cringe at 1000 dollars like some people do. Uncle Tonys whole schtick is "doing it on the cheap" or "doing it with junk laying around..." has anyone seen the results? honestly iif someone doesnt have money in 2024 they arent even getting off the ground in the mopar hobby...pulling a heap off dung out of a field and fixing it up is done its too expensive...point of all that is those guys who think they can get into the old car game now are the ones demanding cheap parts...also retirees on a limited budget etc. the wifes 85 year old uncle needed a BBD for his 318 i said "get a rebuild kit..." he bought a knock off for 30 dollars more than the kit why? he didnt want to play around other than bolting a carb on ...I would have done the carb build fr him but hes stubborn. I said "those chinese knockoffs sometimes arent rebuildable, keep your old one...'
but yes guys on the cheap are where the demand for these parts is.
As an aside, Youtube is full of guys trying to demonstrate how well they can get a car to perform on the cheap. Its not much better than stock ETs if at all...
a stock 70 340 swinger did high 14s in the quarter back then yes you could shave a second off easily but is that fast today something to brag about? 13.70s? ehh some would say why bother...and cruise the thing on some repro 15 inch ralleys to cruises and shows why gut the car for a few 10ths and destroy what it is ...
Last edited:
There’s cheap then there’s on a budget and I get so tired of hearing how expensive Mopars are. To many 11 second or slower spend money stupidity on things their engines don’t need. It’s only because guys are lazy or maybe afraid of Facebook. I pass up deal’s daily or pass them on to others. I just found what is supposed to be an untouched Victor340 for 250.00 that I am passing on to one of our members. I also posted that I need a set of 340 main caps for him for an engine I have. No luck on that yet but I tried because I can reach out to 1000’s of people for him.
Dartswinger70
Well-Known Member
I agree deals to be had if you know what you are looking for but in my experience I've had to cough up the funds if its something I specifically want sometimes it can't be avoided. Always looking for deals should be the norm though I think... also knowing the value of things etc. I wouldn't say I wouldn't run Speed master heads etc. I just haven't gotten there yet where I am running aluminum heads or need to I'm not racing. I'm restoring street cars. If I had absolutely no heads and a shorth block, yes i would consider them or Edelbrocks etc. I do like the Mopar aluminum offerings but realize they are used parts now . For what its worth I always appreciate your input PBR.
Newbomb Turk
Well-Known Member
That’s good news
There's 2 things that I can find wrong with Brett's stuff.
1. Requires bore to be larger than I run
2. I can't afford it
autoxcuda
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2007
- Messages
- 8,838
- Reaction score
- 3,793
Still need a stock outside appearing Small Block aluminum head like the 440 Source big block heads.
Could be the same as the current Speedmaster. Just change the outside casting and front and rear of head w/core plug.
Could be the same as the current Speedmaster. Just change the outside casting and front and rear of head w/core plug.
DionR
Well-Known Member
If we didn't have copying and improving products we would still be stuck with Model A's. The whole reason cars have gotten better is because someone said to themselves "I could do that better" and thus pushed the envelope. It's why we have different motors, transmissions, brakes, etc.
But that's not what is happening here. This is a case of someone building something cheaper and not spend any money on actually developing anything and thus profiting on someone else's work. Personally, I don't see much difference between that and embezzlement. And this isn't about the country it comes from, it's about someone else's ideas.
The funny thing is that sometimes it is an obvious copy but whomever made the copy wasn't technically savvy enough to understand what they were copying and it is actually inferior. I wonder if that is what happened here, the copy artist couldn't read English and didn't know it was a logo. They assumed it had a function so they copied it just like they did with everything else.
But that's not what is happening here. This is a case of someone building something cheaper and not spend any money on actually developing anything and thus profiting on someone else's work. Personally, I don't see much difference between that and embezzlement. And this isn't about the country it comes from, it's about someone else's ideas.
The funny thing is that sometimes it is an obvious copy but whomever made the copy wasn't technically savvy enough to understand what they were copying and it is actually inferior. I wonder if that is what happened here, the copy artist couldn't read English and didn't know it was a logo. They assumed it had a function so they copied it just like they did with everything else.
DionR
Well-Known Member
With the advent of 3D scanners, it is even easier to copy parts. Who needs to spend the time and money to build their own CNC port tooling when you can buy a single head and us a 3D scanner to duplicate the port. Brent and @pittsburghracer become unnecessary at that point.
That might be another reason behind the logo on the VB. They used a 3D scanner and no one looked closely at the parts.
That might be another reason behind the logo on the VB. They used a 3D scanner and no one looked closely at the parts.
As I said before a good head porter can improve any cnc’d head. When all the hand head porters are gone what are you going to copy then. Lol.
Dartswinger70
Well-Known Member
I believe we will always need machine shops and flow bench head port guys ...guys with dynos to actually measure the gains...just for the guys who are serious about going fast and being competitive.
-
