200 CC Aluminum heads on FB Marketplace

[bigdadhack]

Just wondering if anyone has ran the 200CC Aluminum SBC heads I see all over Facebook market place for $200-300. I know you generally get what you pay for and these are likely poor China castings... But, $300 for a 200cc Alum head with bronze guides....
Thanks, Hack

 

[BoondocK5]

Just wondering if anyone has ran the 200CC Aluminum SBC heads I see all over Facebook market place for $200-300. I know you generally get what you pay for and these are likely poor China castings... But, $300 for a 200cc Alum head with bronze guides....
Thanks, Hack

Link?

 

[1-ton]

I am not positive about this, but these heads may be manufactured by Trick Flow. Trick Flow manufactures a lot of generic brand heads for companies like Summit Racing and Jegs. These probably have angled plugs, and angled plugs are known for having clearance issues with headers, spark plugs, and spark plug wires. Trick Flow heads are OK. A lot of people have used them successfully. They just had to deal with the angled plug issue.

 

[BattleBornK5]

From experience the eco heads typically have cheap valves, springs and seats as well as poor finish work. Can't tell you how many times I've went to lap valves on a new set of heads and the were way off. Your better off with a set of vortecs with the guides cut down for more cam than a set of cheap aluminum heads IMO. By time you pay a machine shop to fix them you will be in AFR territory and yet they still won't flow as good. There is a art to heads more than just peak flow numbers. Designing a head to work good down low as well as mid range and top end is where the voodoo happens. Lol

 

[1-ton]

From experience the eco heads typically have cheap valves, springs and seats as well as poor finish work. Can't tell you how many times I've went to lap valves on a new set of heads and the were way off. Your better off with a set of vortecs with the guides cut down for more cam than a set of cheap aluminum heads IMO. By time you pay a machine shop to fix them you will be in AFR territory and yet they still won't flow as good. There is a art to heads more than just peak flow numbers. Designing a head to work good down low as well as mid range and top end is where the voodoo happens. Lol

While we are on the subject...I am planning on buying a set of Edelbrock aluminum heads with stock straight plug angle, and they are not exactly cheap. Should I get those heads looked at as well to make sure everything is sealed tight, and the specs are good before they are installed?

 

[folkenheath]

Just wondering if anyone has ran the 200CC Aluminum SBC heads I see all over Facebook market place for $200-300. I know you generally get what you pay for and these are likely poor China castings... But, $300 for a 200cc Alum head with bronze guides....
Thanks, Hack

I would stay away from the cheapo chinese heads. They may end up costing you more than they save you.

While we are on the subject...I am planning on buying a set of Edelbrock aluminum heads with stock straight plug angle, and they are not exactly cheap. Should I get those heads looked at as well to make sure everything is sealed tight, and the specs are good before they are installed?

If you want I could get them for you and measure installed spring height with my spring height micrometer and hand lap the valves to check for a perfect seal before I ship them to you. I think I could do that in around an hour of labor. If I find anything I would let you know. Many times with a set of heads that's what I will do (along with bowl blending and cleaning up the ports, etc.) And if they need an actual valve job or something I take them to the performance engine machine shop.

 

[BattleBornK5]

While we are on the subject...I am planning on buying a set of Edelbrock aluminum heads with stock straight plug angle, and they are not exactly cheap. Should I get those heads looked at as well to make sure everything is sealed tight, and the specs are good before they are installed?

Never hurts to get any head checked out to make sure there is not a quality issue. Just the finish work on the cheap heads are usually garbage as well as valve and spring quality are junk. Last thing you want is a valve to break. I've seen it happen to many times. Usually on motors with bigger cams and lots of spring psi. But regardless.

 

[bigdadhack]

Thanks for the feedback. That's right in there with what my gut said. Has anyone ran the NKB heads from Skip White? Similar price range, but it seems that they've sold alot of them and are willing to back them if there's issues?

 

[BattleBornK5]

Thanks for the feedback. That's right in there with what my gut said. Has anyone ran the NKB heads from Skip White? Similar price range, but it seems that they've sold alot of them and are willing to back them if there's issues?

I never ran the NKB heads but I did run SW Pro comps on a BBC. They did ok but they still did not perform as good as the AFR heads of a smaller intake runner. The 300 Oval port AFRs were better threwout the whole RPM range over the 320 Skip white pro comps. This was on a fairly radical 496 truck pull motor. And definitely do not boost with Chinese castings. The deck thickness of the head will not be able to handle it. If your just trying to knock weight off and have a mild motor you can probably get away with some SW heads. I'd definitely still lap the valves and check install height and spring pressure to make sure it will work with your desired cam. The tools to do this are fairly affordable and is a good skill to learn. I personally like the spring compressor that goes over your rocker stud. Then if for some reason you have to change a valve seal or spring all you have to do is fill the cyl with air and get after it.

 

[1-ton]

If you want I could get them for you and measure installed spring height with my spring height micrometer and hand lap the valves to check for a perfect seal before I ship them to you. I think I could do that in around an hour of labor. If I find anything I would let you know. Many times with a set of heads that's what I will do (along with bowl blending and cleaning up the ports, etc.) And if they need an actual valve job or something I take them to the performance engine machine shop.

Thanks for the offer! Right now I am rebuilding a 4L80E transmission that is costing me more money than the heads I want to buy, and that is with me rebuilding it myself. I will keep the offer in mind because I want the heads to be a perfect as possible. This will be a spare engine because I have a new GM Goodwrench replacement crate engine in my square body right now with only 15,000 miles on it. I have the original 4-bolt main block for my truck that has never been rebuilt with the stock standard bore. I intend to build the entire engine around the heads, which will effect piston selection, compression ratio, camshaft selection, and everything else, which is why I would buy the heads first before I did anything else.

I want to buy the heads first because one time I learned a lesson when I bought other parts first like pistons before I bought the heads. One time I ordered a set of heads with a certain CC combustion chamber, and they sent me a set of heads with a different chamber. When I called them, and said I got different heads than the ones I ordered they said the heads I ordered where discontinued, and that these where the only heads available anymore. They did not even bother to contact me, and tell me this they just sent me the heads with no warning at all. Typical screw you mail order stuff (back then no internet). Thread hijack over!

 

[folkenheath]

Yes, even if you only buy one item at a time, I still plan the whole engine build before the first part is purchased. Because everything has to work together and if you change one part it effects the rest.

The heads, cam, bore, stroke, piston, intake, etc all have to work together to get the correct static and dynamic compression, the correct RPM range, idle, performance, torque, HP etc for the engine application.

Sounds like you are doing your homework, if you need any help with parts selection advice let me know. I typically use my experience and my app(for the math) to help plan the build based on your application and the parts and budget you have to work with.

In the ends it's all up to what you want though.

 

[pomai]

I would stay away from the cheapo chinese heads. They may end up costing you more than they save you.



If you want I could get them for you and measure installed spring height with my spring height micrometer and hand lap the valves to check for a perfect seal before I ship them to you. I think I could do that in around an hour of labor. If I find anything I would let you know. Many times with a set of heads that's what I will do (along with bowl blending and cleaning up the ports, etc.) And if they need an actual valve job or something I take them to the performance engine machine shop.

Let Heath get and check them for you, You can't go wrong with Heath!