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Cheap Chinese heads...UPDATE April '12: IT'S ALIVE AND RUNNING!!

Re: Cheap Chinese heads...UPDATE 12 Dec

"GrabberOrange69" said:
They were listed as "PROCOMP REVISED PAIR" on FleaBay, and came in "ProComp" labeled boxes.

So...at the end of the day, does everyone feel these are better than the original Iron? Sounds like there are better ones one out there that are more expensive, but would you rather have these or a worked over pair of original 289 heads?
 
Re: Cheap Chinese heads...UPDATE 12 Dec

I wouldn't consider this (buying chinese heads) at all for a couple of reasons. 1) By purchasing from them, you're helping the reason our economy is in the crapper. Of course we can't compete w/countries who don't have the same environmental and labor standards and 2) if you do have a problem, you've thrown your money out the door.

Interesting but no thanks!
 
Re: Cheap Chinese heads...UPDATE 12 Dec

"opentrackerSteve" said:
I wouldn't consider this (buying chinese heads) at all for a couple of reasons. 1) By purchasing from them, you're helping the reason our econo,y is in the crapper. Of course we can't compete w/countries who don't have the same environmental and labor standards and 2) if you do have a problem, you've thrown your money out the door.

Interesting but no thanks!
+1!
 
Re: Cheap Chinese heads...UPDATE 12 Dec

"opentrackerSteve" said:
I wouldn't consider this (buying chinese heads) at all for a couple of reasons. 1) By purchasing from them, you're helping the reason our economy is in the crapper. Of course we can't compete w/countries who don't have the same environmental and labor standards and 2) if you do have a problem, you've thrown your money out the door.

Interesting but no thanks!

Your theory is only valid if I had the $1500 to spend on USA made heads - which I didnt. I did however, have $595 to spend on them. So I could leave the $595 in my pocket, or buy the heads. I chose to buy the heads. By the way, I dont really need them - they are a "want", not a need. I have a set of aluminum GT40 heads sitting on my shelf, but I wanted more intake volume and these 210cc jobs fit the bill.

So it's essentiallly for entertainment value.

By the way, I agree it's hard to compete when the Chinese as they have an unfair market value with their currency, being held artificailly low against the dollar. Plus, as you pointed out, they dont have to meet any environmental laws (a market externality). This is why I have never agreed they deserved "most favored nation" trading status with us.

As for the heads being large paperweights if they didnt work - my ace in the hole was my dad. He still has a fair amount of his machine shop equipment and could have fixed nearly anything with them - so we decided to give them a try

Thank you for your opinion - thats what makes this site rock!
 
Re: Cheap Chinese heads...UPDATE 12 Dec

I have a set of aluminum GT40 heads sitting on my shelf, but I wanted more intake volume and these 210cc jobs fit the bill.

I'd be curious to see which head actually flows better. Flow is more about shape than volume and a good valve job can be worth an extra 10-15ccs. Just something to think about. . .

Robert
 
Re: Cheap Chinese heads...UPDATE 12 Dec

"66benchcoupe" said:
I'd be curious to see which head actually flows better. Flow is more about shape than volume and a good valve job can be worth an extra 10-15ccs. Just something to think about. . .

Robert

That's a great question - by the way the GT40s came off the engine these new heads are going on, a 393W. I'm sure cc to cc the GT40s probably flow more, though they are 160cc intakes vs. the 210cc of the Procomps. I had the car to the track only once where it ran a very traction limited 13.7 at 107mph. The MPH indicates to me there was still a lot more ET in the car with some traction, so we'll see what MPH we can come up with after the head swap. That'll be a decent indicator of how much more power it will be making.
 
Re: Cheap Chinese heads...UPDATE 12 Dec

I think these heads are a great alternative to stock. I tried to get my friend to buy some instead of using the stock heads he payed nearly $400 to have rebuilt. Gonna be a lot of fun when those two piece retainers lets go when he first cranks the engine.

There is another guy, on the Corral, who builds engines for a living. He didn't say yea, or nay on these heads, but he did say that he has used a pair on a dyno test engine that he has ran on, and off for nearly three years with no problems.
 
Re: Cheap Chinese heads...UPDATE Feb '12

Hey Grabber, since you are the OP, why the bump with no new info??
 
Re: Cheap Chinese heads...UPDATE Feb '12

////////////////////////////////////////////Update Mar 2012///////////////////////////////////////

Got 'em painted and bolted on today. Here's the block deck while I was cleaning it - shows the notched piston...
BlkDeck.jpg


Here's different views of the loaded up heads...
combustionchambers.jpg


HeadLoadedface.jpg


HeadLoaded.jpg


4 weeks left to get 'er done and on the road!
 
Re: Cheap Chinese heads...UPDATE April '12

IT RUNS!!!!

No pictures yet, but fired it up 2 hours ago - all seems normal. Putted it around the block - the first time in 5 years ( I know, lame) and it ran great. Fired right up with no problems/leaks/malfunctions.

Yippee!!!! :yah
 
Re: Cheap Chinese heads...UPDATE April '12

"GrabberOrange69" said:
IT RUNS!!!!

No pictures yet, but fired it up 2 hours ago - all seems normal. Putted it around the block - the first time in 5 years ( I know, lame) and it ran great. Fired right up with no problems/leaks/malfunctions.

Yippee!!!! :yah

Yo,
You know the drill.......
:wop
 
ARP studs, Comp rockers, Summit hardened pushrods. Here's the final late night thrashing...

DSC03321.jpg


DSC03322.jpg


DSC03325.jpg


DSC03324.jpg


Here she is all together after a 3 hour round trip drive...

DSC03327-1.jpg


DSC03326.jpg


It's going to Knott's!!!
 
Thanks - for what it's worth, no real problems yet. Hard to say how much more power; I've gotten on it hard from a 40mph roll twice, and it definitively has more power mid-range than before. However, I have a part throttle miss that I have to track down. I believe it may be the float setting in the Edelbrock carb. I beat my head against the wall today trying to figure it out; then I remembered having a similar problem 6 years ago due to my Carter strip pump putting out 8psi fuel pressure - pushes the fuel level too high and fuel dumps into the throats under part throttle. I was too tired to finish tracking it down, but am highly confident I found the solution based on my previous experience.
 
That's great to be on the road after five years. I am rolling up on the fourth anniversary of the last time my '65 fb turned a wheel under its own power. I am curious about your comment, though, about a fuel pump dumping fuel into the intake tract. Fuel enters the throttle bores through the boosters. There is no direct connection between the fuel pump and the boosters. Pressurized fuel is checked by the needle and seat, which opens and closes according to the position of the float. After the fuel gets past the needle and seat, it sits in the float bowl and the only pressure acting on it is atmospheric air pressure. When air passes through the venturi, and the booster centered in the venturi, it causes a pressure drop. This pressure drop causes atmospheric air pressure to push the fuel out of the float bowl and into the booster. The fuel pump is not in the loop in this process.
 
"180 Out" said:
That's great to be on the road after five years. I am rolling up on the fourth anniversary of the last time my '65 fb turned a wheel under its own power. I am curious about your comment, though, about a fuel pump dumping fuel into the intake tract. Fuel enters the throttle bores through the boosters. There is no direct connection between the fuel pump and the boosters. Pressurized fuel is checked by the needle and seat, which opens and closes according to the position of the float. After the fuel gets past the needle and seat, it sits in the float bowl and the only pressure acting on it is atmospheric air pressure. When air passes through the venturi, and the booster centered in the venturi, it causes a pressure drop. This pressure drop causes atmospheric air pressure to push the fuel out of the float bowl and into the booster. The fuel pump is not in the loop in this process.

I'm not a carb expert, but I thought carbs have a fuel pump pressure limit before a regualtor is needed, IIRC approx 6 psi. It's my (very generic) understanding excess pressure from the pump would "push the fuel past the needle & seat" into the intake tract.
 
Yeah, I Googled around a bit and there are many references to fuel pump pressure above 6 or 7 psi overwhelming the needle and seat and the fuel level in the float bowl rises too high and some of it gets into the throttle bore. I haven't taken an Edelbrock apart in awhile so I don't know what the path would be for that to happen. The jets, which lead to the boosters, are in the bottom of the carb, and are therefore always submerged, regardless of the fuel level in the bowl. There must be some other circuit that opens into the float bowl but which is not supposed to flow fuel.
 
"180 Out" said:
...There must be some other circuit that opens into the float bowl but which is not supposed to flow fuel...

Most carbs vents dump into the venturis somewhere - if the float is set wrong or the needle isn't working it'll vent fuel into the throttle bores and into your engine instead of dumping onto your engine and catching fire.
 
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