My home inspection of Speedmaster heads

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Will these things take a 2.08 valve seat wise?



Yes but let me be the first to say it’s worth it but it’s not. A 2.05 pays the most dividends for time and money spent. The volume just isn’t there and gets VERY touchy. I had to flow ever single port multiple times to get my heads where they are. I started a need set of Edelbrock heads last year that I will move the rocker over .350 to get more area to see if that pays off
 
Well the good news is out of the box as tested with a 2.02 used Edelbrock valve with a 30 degree backcut is they flow [email protected] lift were an Edelbrock Head maxes out at 243 on my bench. At .500 they take a slight dip to [email protected],[email protected], and 256 bouncing to [email protected] so when I calm that down with a valve job and wider pinch let’s see what will happen. I know we have to many Speedmaster posts now but I may start a new one with what the mods do and how air speed reacts. Pushrod pinch was 384, 382, 377, top to bottom. Pretty damn fast.
 
My cam won't favor these heads... but still looking forward to the results. My cam is 204@050 .427 (intake); little more duration on exhaust (212??@050) .455 lift. I think the results would favor the SM heads more if I had around 230@050/.480 lift

I always like to "wait and see". You never know. That's why I sit back and laugh when all the gurus post paragraph after paragraph of what they read out of books rather than real world experience. I also find it funny that they are always the ones who "seem" to have "hands on" experience with what seems to be everything under the sun. HA!
 
Anyone check the spring pressure. Mine feel pretty stiff and are dual springs. Locks and retainers are getting replaced with comp stuff. Not going to risk it for 90 bucks.
 
SM CNC flowed by @PRH

Valve job, back cut valve and a blend.

Lift——int
.100— 67 +3
.200—132 +6
.300—191 +25
.400—232 +26
.500—262 +20
.600—275 +4
.700—281 -3
 
SM CNC flowed by @PRH

Valve job, back cut valve and a blend.

Lift——int
.100— 67 +3
.200—132 +6
.300—191 +25
.400—232 +26
.500—262 +20
.600—275 +4
.700—281 -3
I'll be curious to 100% total cost before you put them on your car? Original cost, shipping, Parts, labor...
 
I'll be curious to 100% total cost before you put them on your car? Original cost, shipping, Parts, labor...

$1100 - CNC loaded heads
$100 - shipping to/from PRH
$265 - valve job/backcut/blend/flow
$200 - B3 correction kit

$1665 total

If you find my comment from a few weeks ago, by the time you sink some extra $ into these to get them into decent shape, you're within spitting distance of a set of trick flows.

I'm still ahead, by a bit, but now people have some solid info to make decisions going forward, if the head is good enough out of the box, for them, or not.

If you plan to go through them and fix the obvious stuff, I know that I'd spend the extra $ and get the TFs. If you plan to run them OOTB, then they're a moderate upgrade to a set of iron heads.

On that note, no regrets, I'm running stock J's right now, so the car should be drastically improved in the spring.
 
$1100 - CNC loaded heads
$100 - shipping to/from PRH
$265 - valve job/backcut/blend/flow
$200 - B3 correction kit

$1665 total

If you find my comment from a few weeks ago, by the time you sink some extra $ into these to get them into decent shape, you're within spitting distance of a set of trick flows.

I'm still ahead, by a bit, but now people have some solid info to make decisions going forward, if the head is good enough out of the box, for them, or not.

If you plan to go through them and fix the obvious stuff, I know that I'd spend the extra $ and get the TFs. If you plan to run them OOTB, then they're a moderate upgrade to a set of iron heads.

On that note, no regrets, I'm running stock J's right now, so the car should be drastically improved in the spring.
Thank you! Yes this makes decision making a lot easier.. along with PBR doing a Home Port himself.. what it would take for a professional TimeWise an instrument wise...
I'm going from 596 heads mildly ported with 2.02's to unCNC'ed loaded speedmasters..
Hoping for a very small bump in performance, loose 50lbs, and I got aluminum heads like I always wanted...
 
Thank you! Yes this makes decision making a lot easier.. along with PBR doing a Home Port himself.. what it would take for a professional TimeWise an instrument wise...
I'm going from 596 heads mildly ported with 2.02's to unCNC'ed loaded speedmasters..
Hoping for a very small bump in performance, loose 50lbs, and I got aluminum heads like I always wanted...
Just my opinion, for the money spent above I'd just order the ProMaxx Shockers that are CNC ported. Almost the same cost.
 
Just my opinion, for the money spent above I'd just order the ProMaxx Shockers that are CNC ported. Almost the same cost.
Yes I've already said that as far as pbr's thread goes.. by the time a professional has done that much work which means someone has done it and has the money to make a mistake and get it fixed and learn how to do it right... I believe these are for the budget-minded person or for the professional who can turn them into something with their on labor.. I 100% agree that "IF" I would have needed this much out of them I would have waited till promaxx had a sale and got them at the same price as going through having them played with... But how do we know until someone did it... As PBR said it's getting to be a lost art but there's a reason... I understand how it running and I love to do things as I've said I did most of the porting on my heads as well.. all it taught me was I don't want to do that again LOL what a mess...
 
Yes I've already said that as far as pbr's thread goes.. by the time a professional has done that much work which means someone has done it and has the money to make a mistake and get it fixed and learn how to do it right... I believe these are for the budget-minded person or for the professional who can turn them into something with their on labor.. I 100% agree that "IF" I would have needed this much out of them I would have waited till promaxx had a sale and got them at the same price as going through having them played with... But how do we know until someone did it... As PBR said it's getting to be a lost art but there's a reason... I understand how it running and I love to do things as I've said I did most of the porting on my heads as well.. all it taught me was I don't want to do that again LOL what a mess...
well, I've never found porting "messy", lol. Time consuming, YES!.
 
Well I only did it the one time for several days and I didn't have like a professional vacuum setup or whatever so those chips flew everywhere...
I use a cheap Walmart vacuum w/hose. I put the hose in the opposite end of the port I'm working on.... end of mess, end of it up your nose, or in your eyes
 
I use a cheap Walmart vacuum w/hose. I put the hose in the opposite end of the port I'm working on.... end of mess, end of it up your nose, or in your eyes
I don't do anything on cars without eye protection.. of course I wore a dust mask and stuff like that but still if I was to get into it and do it more often or do it again yes I would find some different ways to keep the mess down... And that sounds like a good one..
 
I don't do anything on cars without eye protection.. of course I wore a dust mask and stuff like that but still if I was to get into it and do it more often or do it again yes I would find some different ways to keep the mess down... And that sounds like a good one..
Also, most use die grinders. They are much more aggressive creating more "atmosphere presence" LOL. I use Dremel stones for two reasons. Not as aggressive so I can slowly work the port to my liking (awful hard to put it back on once you gouge it off) :D And second, easier to control the dust. It does take longer, though
 
Also, most use die grinders. They are much more aggressive creating more "atmosphere presence" LOL. I use Dremel stones for two reasons. Not as aggressive so I can slowly work the port to my liking (awful hard to put it back on once you gouge it off) :D And second, easier to control the dust. It does take longer, though
Of course I was working on the Steelheads so I would start with a die grinder and stones and sandpaper rolls...
I just don't see myself doing that again..
Honestly I'm pretty happy with the performance of the engine as it sets..
I know I could have a better block a better crank better rods better Pistons better heads and in your opinion LOL better carburetors.. the buck ends here... At this point I see myself maybe trying another cam next year but if I need to get super crazy I just want to build another motor from the ground up.... But I don't..
 
Just my opinion, for the money spent above I'd just order the ProMaxx Shockers that are CNC ported. Almost the same cost.

Not quite the same. The bare are $1650 and the loaded Shockers are listed at $1950 for the FT versions, $2100 for the roller. That CNC SM head is currently flowing about the same as the MAXX ($1130 bare, $1430 FT, and $1570 Roller) than the Shocker. More significantly, they have been out of stock since the summer and won't be in stock until February or so. You'll still need the B3 kit with the ProMaxx and that gets them into solid TF territory. I have a lightly used set of the Maxx 171's and the PRW rockers hit the springs and need to go up and back. They are very nice looking to my inexperienced eye though. I'm going to run them as is after I check the guides and valve sealing.

IMG_3051.JPG


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IMG_3072.JPG
 
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Not quite the same. The bare are $1650 and the loaded Shockers are listed at $1950 for the FT versions, $2100 for the roller. That CNC SM head is currently flowing about the same as the MAXX ($1130 bare, $1430 FT, and $1570 Roller) than the Shocker. More significantly, they have been out of stock since the summer and won't be in stock until February or so. You'll still need the B3 kit with the ProMaxx and that gets them into solid TF territory. I have a lightly used set of the Maxx 171's and the PRW rockers hit the springs and need to go up and back. They are very nice looking to my inexperienced eye though. I'm going to run them as is after I check the guides and valve sealing.

View attachment 1715444058

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Pretty much word for word what I was going to say. If you plan to do any kind of work to either the promaxx or sm heads, I don't see any advantage to not buying the TFs instead.

Trick Flow, in my opinion, really nailed it on quality of work and parts for the price. Someone has to be the guinea pig in these situations, and I'm not sore about it being me in this situation, but I without a doubt would have gone TF if I had the numbers in front of me on Black Friday.
 
Pretty much word for word what I was going to say. If you plan to do any kind of work to either the promaxx or sm heads, I don't see any advantage to not buying the TFs instead.

Trick Flow, in my opinion, really nailed it on quality of work and parts for the price. Someone has to be the guinea pig in these situations, and I'm not sore about it being me in this situation, but I without a doubt would have gone TF if I had the numbers in front of me on Black Friday.
Also remember trick flow performance is what you're looking for...
I was looking for just a small bump in performance over my cast-iron heads and 50 lb of weight loss and the aluminum heads that I always wanted.. if I wanted trick flow performance I wouldn't not have tried to get it out of speed Masters...
 
Take the SM head, recut the seats, back cut the valves, blend the bowls....... you should end up with the same thing as the Maxx unported head.

4A4A93CA-855A-41E5-BE4D-C9C5613AAC12.png
 
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