[many birds]

So…I bought a set of these during the Black Friday sale. Just got them delivered. What all should I be looking for on these before bolting them on the engine? These are the assembled flat tapper version. I’ve never used aluminum heads before—does any of the hardware need to be changed or can I just pull the stuff from my old stock heads.

[Mike Davis]

You need the correct pushrod guide plates for the Speedmaster or Eheads. You also need a set of ARP head bolts or studs for E-heads.
Use the Felpro 1016 head gaskets as well.

[tom s]

Im having my shop check out the valve job,guide clearance,spring pressure open and closed and avail lift before I take a chance on bolting them one.Tom

[gobrdgo]

I got mine bare. There’s some obvious core shift related material that could use some attention from my perspective. Your head guy will surely see it and be able to remedy for little time. I’m not saying it’s port work needed more blending the sharp machining lines.

[gobrdgo]

One more pic

[gobrdgo]

One more try. Embarrassing myself trying to post pics

[steve25]

That size lip in the exh port below the seat incert is beyond horrendous!!

[gobrdgo]

Originally Posted by steve25

That size lip in the exh port below the seat incert is beyond horrendous!!

I’ve only picked up a little bit of what you’ve tried to teach me but yeah there’s a lot of low hanging fruit in the ports.

[many birds]

Originally Posted by tom s

Im having my shop check out the valve job,guide clearance,spring pressure open and closed and avail lift before I take a chance on bolting them one.Tom

I’m curious to see what you find.

[blueghoast]

You can get guids and studs from speedmaster.
Some good cleaning and there ready to go.
I would do a little blending in certain area's
The assembled heads are more finished then the bare heads.

GT

[Mike Davis]

Originally Posted by blueghoast

You can get guids and studs from speedmaster.
Some good cleaning and there ready to go.
I would do a little blending in certain area's
The assembled heads are more finished then the bare heads.

GT

Agree, I got a set complete and they actually looked good. Valves were seated etc. I did disassemble and clean the ports and bowls up some.
Flowed 302 with very little work.

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by Mike Davis

Agree, I got a set complete and they actually looked good. Valves were seated etc. I did disassemble and clean the ports and bowls up some.
Flowed 302 with very little work.

That's "horrendous" for an $1100 set of heads! lol.

If they made an 87cc version, they would already be on my car!

[steve25]

I will double down on my horrendous comment, how’s this?
That also shows how much casting core shift those heads have, or can have!
I have never seen that much shift in any aftermarket head!

Are you folks expanding that picture up to fully see what I am commenting on?

[Mike Davis]

Steve, The heads I got had very little casting shift. They actually looked better than my first set of E Heads.
I have only seen about 3 sets of the Speedmasters and they all looked ok.

[Formulas]

Perhaps the bare heads are a little on the unfinished side or a set slipped through missing a process step

That does look like as cast port with zero transition work to the cut to accommodate the seat insert

I dont see how that particular exhaust port could flow more than stock

I couldn't just slap those on in good conscious I would at least do a heavy blend job

[grandam1979]

The out of the box set I have on my sons car perform very well. I was going to clean them up but everybody was talking how bad they are so I had to do it to know for myself. With that said they do have some areas entering the ports that really could use some help to make better. Engine is what I would consider a street engine and I did not dyno it but I think it’s over 500 from a 469. Car is well into the 10’s at over 3000# I got another set this year I’m going to do some clean up on and see how it runs next summer.

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by Formulas

Perhaps the bare heads are a little on the unfinished side or a set slipped through missing a process step

That does look like as cast port with zero transition work to the cut to accommodate the seat insert

I dont see how that particular exhaust port could flow more than stock

I couldn't just slap those on in good conscious I would at least do a heavy blend job

Bare heads are not fully machined or finished.

[72projectbird]

Iirc they are cast in Australia, and finished machined in China. Normally I'd expect core shift like that from something cast in China, but apparently the Aussies are up to the same things.

Still, I'd take a shot at them if they made an 87cc version, but I guess they don't want half of their customer base.

[grandam1979]

You guys are funny I have a 68 400 block here in the shop that has really bad core shift. I have seen Intakes with castings so bad you could cut yourself picking them up stop kicking a dead dog.

[70 bird]

Do the push rod holes have to be clearanced for 1.65 rockers?