BUDGET Power? Speedmaster Cylinder Head Review! Are They Worth It? #cylinderhead
BUDGET Power? Speedmaster Cylinder Head Review! Are They Worth It? #cylinderhead
After many many videos we did on these heads, we are at a point to share our final (hopefully) assessment. These heads are for the 521” big block Ford going in the 1968 Thunderbird for the #nonamenationals
It’s a yes and a no answer.. guess you’ll have to watch to find out! Enjoy !!
#nonamenationals #2hacksgarage #sendit #builtnotbought #speedmaster #cylinderhead #valves #portingpolish #fordthunderbird #ford #projectcars #projectcar #budgetbuild #review #hotrod #fullthrottle #china #supplychain #effort #edelbrock #airflow #intakemanifold #headgasket #budgetbuild #procomp #cheap #diy #howto #loveitorhateit @BareRoseGarage
Thanks for sharing.
Well done sir! The perseverance to completion is the big cost that you can’t put a dollar value on. If you could, you would be able to retire!
Great review Jeff.
You elevated the quality of your heads by doing your work to the best of your ability.
And, you’re American!
We all can take a step back and look into the future by, Planning, preparation while taking into consideration budget and how to get the most bang for our buck.
I think your heads look very nice.
Light years ahead of what they were.
And you personalized them by putting your own slant on them.
Valves, springs, retainer and locks.
I need to say this, there have been thousands of heads ported and polished that were never on a flow bench.
Heads that won championship races.
Also these heads are light years better than anything Ford ever made back in the day.
As far as performance goes.
You can run a point higher on compression and still run pump gas.
A superior exhaust port, which always hurt the original heads.
So over all I think you have a winner.
I do however would agree they needed a chamber job.
But as you said you can always do that later as you said.
You should be proud of the work you did and the other fella that helped you also.
Great content.
Thank you, Ed.
Have anyone ever had an issue with valve thickness inconsistency? Say a valve is.040 thicker than the rest . A thicker valve would add compression in that port due to making a tighter combustion chamber. Is this a thing? I know that it would a pretty big difference in thickness to raise or lower compression.
Hey Man,. What brand name are those Black Wrenches hanging on your peg board?
For the price of these, I am eyeballing a pair of afr 270s…
What are the flow numbers for these out of the box? That’s really the only thing holding me up from buying a bare set. Can’t seem to find any information on the flow
🤘👀🇺🇲
Lemonade! Use the valves and spring to create a bench top head stand. Instead of a plastic crate! The valves are already bent so no loss right, and the springs will cushion them.
I just ordered a pair and have a new cam shaft for my 302 I need to call and get valve springs, where do I get keepers? Same place?
I have 1.6 rockers and a girdle from a friend
Great video just ordered a pair
Gasket matching is not a good way to get the ports to match. The better way is to attach the intake and make the two match without opening up the port. The gasket makers just have to have a hole big enough to not be in the port.
So basically by the time and money you should’ve just bought the Edelbrock or Trick flo or AFRs
I have a set of the Procomps/Speedmaster 210cc aluminum heads from 2010 on my 351-W. I purchased the heads bare and redid the valve job and cleaned them up. Todays casting are far more superior compared to the set that I have. I just had to buy a set of these heads to check them out. I did all the work myself so I don’t have the extra expense of having a machine shop reworking them for me. Take my advice and save your money and purchase Dart, AFR , Trickflow, and Brodix. AFR BBF cylinder heads make insane HP for the money.
Great video on the Speedmaster heads. A lot to think about when choosing a head for a project.
Hey man, you want a scrap one someone ported into a water jacket on?
Yo I’ll take the valves..
Thanks for pouring your soul out to us Big Block Ford guys. You did a great job explaining the good and bad about these heads. I’ve been tinkering with engines for nearly 50 years and have run a 460 in my jet boat 🚤 for 33 years. As a veteran of racing the SoCal raceways for years , I’ve seen the good bad and ugly.
From what I’ve seen on the video, I say you did a hell of a job cleaning the heads up and fixed everything I’ve heard what’s wrong with them. There’s much knowledge in the " 460 Forum" . Best of luck to you . That 521 is gonna run!
Great video brother
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I’ll take those valves Jeff
I have an idea!!
Yessir thank you! Who did you contact for the new springs?
that porting you did looks great
Great review Jive Hive Jeff sorry you got burned brother on those other valves and springs but you know now what to look for.
Explains a lot of the problems that I had with my SM 351w heads I fought the gold rockers that came with sliding off the guides. It wasn’t until I switched to a different brand of guides and PRW rockers that the problem was solved. Thanks, but where was this video a year ago lol?
I have the speedmaster/procomp iron heads on the 351W in the 68 Fairlane I’m bringing to NNN. Got them bare, exhaust seats were sized for wrong valves, replaced valve guides and did a valve job. Valves, keepers, retainers and springs were added in by us. Same story decent casting but not totally as advertised.
What length pushrods did you use?
Greatly appreciate this video. Trying to figure out what budget route I’m going but I’m also pressed for time. Was trying to find dove heads as I have d8 heads (not very common I guess) and bump the compression but almost considering going with D3 heads and run a pop up piston as my lower end needs to be rebuilt and id rather spend the money on a stronger lower.
Totally GREAT series from start to finish man & TOTAL hats off to you for doing the majority of the work yourself even though you have access to a racing legend (Jimmy) right there to do it for you! I TOTALLY admit that I have access to 2 here where I live as well (they both asked me to NOT mention them out right because they have too much to do) but when I get my set in, I’m going to drop them off, and say "have at it man".
One thing to mention in that though…. Alden & Bill both said to buy all of them "Bare". They run into this same stuff with Dart, Edelbrock, AFR, etc etc etc. just not to this degree. And like Bill said, if I have to go into them, it’s not much different in price.
Both of them said these Speedmaster heads are better than DOVE-C’s but NO WHERE NEAR a set of Darts (with the BBC exhaust) when they are done….. you get what you pay for in the end, after you’ve forked out the money to make any of them work.
And to top off this novel comment, they both told be what Uncle Tony has said for decades…. "Purity of Purpose". If the car you are building is a Saturday Night Cruiser that you take to the strip a couple times a year just to have fun with. Do Not Waist Your Money On Stuff That Is Track Dedicated! If you want to build a race car, build a race car. If you want to build a driver, slap the Speedmaster on it to put the big money to a Race Car.
Again…. totally great series Jeff! This is the stuff that’s going to send you to the moon and back brother!
Wow you really went through every thing which is a great service to anyone looking to use these heads and I don’t think it’s stops at Ford applications I bet their other heads need to be bought bare. And I never get tired of your videos but I’m a motorhead!
fuck Speedmaster don’t buy from them I bought a block from them they told me it was going to be shipped to my house on 24 hours it took 6 months when I got the block it was a blemish block the cylinder bore were all bad castings and then they wanted me to pay for return shipping and then they want me to get the same block which they didn’t even have in stock they wanted me to give them an extra $1,000 for the same exact block that they sent me that was already bad what company will send you a bad block and then put the expenses on the customer Speedmaster that’s who Pro Comp Electronics . if you see this I’m trying to warn you guys to not buy anything from Speedmaster just trying to help if it’s nothing but headache and hours and hours and hours of talking on the phone getting no responses they won’t even put you on the phone with a manager they give you the complete runaround bullshit never again.