School me on W2 heads.

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W2 Holley Strip Dominator. I had the heads, two intakes, and a nice set of Norris rockers along with some other stuff, but never built around them. Most of the stuff was gathered in with other purchases when we were collecting this stuff. you'll find these pop up for sale from time to time. I still look at stuff, but my buying days are over :)

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I don't think I do Rob.... If you want I could see if the guy that bought the package from me could send a shot. He still hasn't built with them yet, though he's getting close. they were basically steel that was the same shape as the gasket and was screwed on to the end rail of the intake using counter sunk screws. Single gasket sealed up fine on the Indy. On the Ebrock we made spacers, but were thick and then we just used a thin bead of rtv to seal.
 
Your all welcome. A special thanks to A body for his W5 pictures and knowledge. My heads were purchased from him. He gave me a lot of heads up on the heads. While they didn't go as far as I wanted them to, they still went pretty good. Minus the over the top Ti valves and springs, (which were used at a great price,) the cost over all would have been cheaper then Edelbrocks purchased new and then sent out for a full boogie porting.

My Hughesengines CNC big mouth heads flow more air. But also cost more.
 

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Intake comparo
 

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No worries. It was more for the members viewing the thread and wondering about the end spacers.
Sorry for the side ways photos. I'm on the phone now and that's how they post. Small and sideways. Annoying!

Sorry again, no W2 photos on hand and I'm NOT digging them out and up. Sorry. Just believe me when I say buried and buried good.
 
actually Rob, you got my headers. your heads were Tony's. It was funny that those pieces were literally 150 miles apart, and ended up all the way back east! :)
 
LOL, OOOOOPS! Ha ha ha ha. Yea, I get confused with all the crap I get.
But still you were helpful. Both of you guys had some great stories, advice and heads up mentions.

I'm about there with the build and the wife interrupted me with her car. '67 Cuda.
(Good distraction play!)
 
for a budget build...LOL....

the Crane rockers are still available...just bought a couple left and rights for spares ...that i will probably never use.....

still got a few sets of heads...rockers..intakes ...headers hoarded away

sold a set of the heads at mats 2015...bare.....

a bunch random pictures
 

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Getting back to the W2's I mentioned here they are. So what do we know? What do I need? Who can help me? and Is it worth while?

 
MR4V said:
Hi Greg, next time introduce yourself, I normally attend Northlake, Lakesside 1/8 and Willowbank. You want find me to far from the car.

Cheers
Karl



All tall order it may have been, you're come through again. Thanks Rob.
Click to expand...

Will do Karl, work is killing my drive time, I live out not far from Willowbank, try and do a few runs around the place, I'll look you up next time I see it out
 
Retroboy said:
Getting back to the W2's I mentioned here they are. So what do we know? What do I need? Who can help me? and Is it worth while?

Click to expand...

Worth while for what? You have heads. You have stands. Do you have rockers and an intake? Those things are easy to get.

On 360 inches, a well PREPPED set of W2's will easily make 600 HP without trying. If not, you are doing something wrong.

The only reason to not run them is you are too cheap to buy the parts to go with them. The W2 head is superior to ANY conventional SBC 23 degree standard port head.

If you start porting the W2 they will produce even more.
 
yellow rose said:
Worth while for what? You have heads. You have stands. Do you have rockers and an intake? Those things are easy to get.

On 360 inches, a well PREPPED set of W2's will easily make 600 HP without trying. If not, you are doing something wrong.

The only reason to not run them is you are too cheap to buy the parts to go with them. The W2 head is superior to ANY conventional SBC 23 degree standard port head.

If you start porting the W2 they will produce even more.
Click to expand...

I'm in Australia Mate this stuff is like rocking horse poo here. The heads are availabe to me but they are in the US. Do they take standard LA rocker shafts? So all I need are off-set intake rockers, push rods and an intake right? What's the deal with valve lengths some need longer stems?
Cheers
 
Retroboy said:
I'm in Australia Mate this stuff is like rocking horse poo here. The heads are availabe to me but they are in the US. Do they take standard LA rocker shafts? So all I need are off-set intake rockers, push rods and an intake right? What's the deal with valve lengths some need longer stems?
Cheers
Click to expand...


Sorry, I thought you had the stuff already. IMO, here is what you need since you showed pics of heads that require rocker shaft blocks.

You need stands (blocks) that have the hold down holes offset. You need shafts that have the bolt down hole offset. You need 4 intake rockers that have a left offset and 4 that have a right offset. The exhaust are the same as all non magnum exhaust rockers. The valves (IIRC) are 5.300 long, or pretty close to that. That will give you about a 2.00 installed height. You also need a W2 intake manifold and headers. Crane still makes rockers, so does Norris IIRC but they are double dog expensive. T&D and Jesel have rockers as well. If the heads have both bolt patterns in the exhaust you can use standard headers, but it's not a perfect fit.

BTW, I have rocking horse poo and pixie dust around here in abundance. You just gotta know the right people.
 
You can get full rocker gear through Summitracing, Jegs, Manciniracing.
Just order the stuff as W2 specific to avoid any misunderstanding and possible wrong parts.
W2's will use W2 shafts.
W2 gear works on W5 heads FWIW.

On the basic laymans math on head flow vs. HP, it would be cfm X's 2 which slightly unrated the head but show realistic power potential in most aggressive combinations seeking to make very good power. Race engines exceed this basic math of cfm X's 2 for power.

The question of, "Is this head worth it." Is probably yes if your looking to hand out a pasting on the street or run very well at the track. This head far exceeds an OE heads power out out abilty. Typically exceeding 100HP gain.

The question here is the cost of the build. It is a little pricey, but your building for serious power gains over a stock head.

These iron heads have always been a popular step up until the aluminum W5 (More race than street) & then the inexpensive Edelbrock head (more street than race) of which both save approx. 50lbs. An attractive weight savings and trick look. The previously mention poor W5 castings make that head a bit unattractive for most and the Edelbrock head is very popular allowing a little higher compression and near dead on similar performance. The fall a little short in Max cfm flow most times.

Here is another way to look at it.

Hey rumblefish, would you use them?
Me; Yes indeed. Plans are in the works currently. It should make for a powerful VERY long lasting street machine. Rock solid heads.
 
I had 2 sets of W-2's in the late 80's. Herb McCandless traded me those heads for a first offering of the W-5 Aluminum head. At the time I was young and stupid so it seemed like a great idea since the W-5 was so well talked about..... They were junk with core shifting and I suspect they are probably 22's on a Donk at this point...

I have no idea which W-2's I had but Herb did..... Live and learn.... Live and learn...

JW
 
Price compare & Flow rate examples since it is always a case of your wallet limiting your performance.

Edelbrocks
http://www.shadydellspeedshop.com/edelbrockheads.htm
W2
http://www.shadydellspeedshop.com/w2.htm
W5
http://www.shadydellspeedshop.com/w5.htm
Various ported head levels here;
http://www.hughesengines.com/Index/...BIg==&level1=Q3lsaW5kZXIgSGVhZHMsIEFsdW1pbnVt

As you can see, for all of these stock style HP heads, the W5 has attractive high lift flow abilty and the low end is excellent as well. The Edelbrocks fall a little short and the W2 is right in the mix up high.
 
I could have bought a set of bare W2's for $300 decades ago, the rocker gear was still more than the heads. W2 intakes are out there cheap used, usually Strip Dominators. I actually traded the W2 intake I had for sale to the W2 guy for a LA strip Dominator he had AND a Performer. Good stuff, them W2's. I heard a story that they were made for the kit car race program and even the Warlock/Express truck was supposed to get them. Imagine that truck with stock W2's...
 
The truck deal is a myth told over and over by those who can not properly read.
The heads were put up top a dead stock engine in the truck to see if it was possible to get them to pass emmisions testing and to see what kind of power it would make. Once the forbidden test was over, word leaked out the test was done and the chit hit the fan. The truck was never intended to get the heads ever. The idea was to do what you were not told to do in hopes of getting the upper management to think again and just do it.
It was more of a ask forgiveness than permission thing.

Considering the performance outlook of the day and what had been done in the past at other places, like GM ignoring the big block in a small car is a no go rule until broken.

If people would take the time to actually know the story rather than repeat what they hear and get the news from the source, it would be a lot better. I still have people telling me what you said and as well as;
"The W2 is a stock head that came on OE passenger cars"
"The W2 head is a NASCAR head only"
"The W2 econo head doesn't perform well because it is a cheap watered down version"
"X heads are a one year deal"
"J, O, U heads are watered down emmisions heads."
"302 heads cam on 360's."
"There's no such thing as a 372 stroker combo."
"The Poly 318 is several inches wider at the block than a standard "LA" block."

This would make a good thread. B.S. Myth's you have heard about MoPars"
 
I will go take pictures of my w2's and strip dominator that has been flowed with a piece of wood and epoxy .
Got them from my neighbor an x ss racer .
Heads have new valves no springs .
 
As Greg the original poster said W series heads are rarely seen here in Oz, so this thread is great for us.
Thanks
 
jimmer said:
I will go take pictures of my w2's and strip dominator that has been flowed with a piece of wood and epoxy .
Got them from my neighbor an x ss racer .
Heads have new valves no springs .
Click to expand...

Would like to see that,
I remember using "popsicle sticks" in the Offy port-o-sonic manifolds with std. 340 heads.
Never saw any used with W2 stuff.
Thanks
 
You can't see it well but I think it might also be Popsicle sticks cut down and epoxied in place .
If I remember right he told me something like certain cylinders got too much fuel and this evens it out ?
I could be wrong ?
I will ask him when I see him .
 

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