guys here is what happens, an American company does all the research and testing to bring a product to you. then someone sends them over seas to be copied.you buy those and eventually put that company out of business. in the end you end up with a bunch of chinese crap and no more American companies.then blame it on someone else.

A couple of thoughts/comments about this. First as you've noted Edelbrock is currently the only domestic manufacturer of standard port small block heads so if you want to start with a "made in the USA" product then Eddys are your only small block choice. Big blocks are a different story since Indy has a broader line up than Edelbrock currently has for big blocks. Edelbrock has established a fairly good reputation for casting quality, overseas made products are likely to be more problematic. Not necessarily bad, just not as well known. As for pricing I have a set of Indybrocks that are in near OOTB condition and I inquired at the March Indy show a couple of years ago what Indy would charge to take my heads and run them through their CNC program. The idea was that I would give them my bare heads and they would only do the CNC program, no valve job or anything else. At that time I was quoted a price of $750.00. I don't know if that price would still hold. I would think that a CNC program that works on standard small block Eddys could be adapted to Indybrocks fairly easily.

I'll avoid the whole ethics issue of import castings which are simply "clones" of domestic R&D efforts and, instead, suggest STRONGLY that any initiative on your part based on using import castings needs to start with a thorough inspection & evaluation of those castings.

From what I've seen w/ the Pr*c*mp BB Victor "clone" casting I've posted about recently (porting work I've done while using one as a substitute for an actual Edelbrock casting), it has some issues that are not going to be "fixed" by simply applying a CNC porting program to it. I can't speak to the quality of the casting material / metalurgy(sp?), which might be perfectly acceptable, nor the reliability of the valve seat installation from the manufacturer, if replacing them is not part of the plan.

As far as what influences my own cylinder head purchases, I DO take into account the origin and general reputation for QC and/or known issues before even considering the advertised flow #s, runner volumes, etc. I may be in the minority based on the folks who post about budget concerns driving everything.

If they're only offered as a "one size fits all" version, having proven dyno & track results for typical combinations applicable to those heads would be extremely helpful in gauging their effectiveness, as opposed to being sold simply on the merits of their flowbench results.

If you're not able to offer a product that is filling a void in the market and are simply providing "just another ported head", IMO your success will be tied to marketing (e.g. advertised flow #s, regardless of other pertinent aspects of the head's design) and / or price, since some people seem unable to look beyond the initial purchase price, regardless of what the long-term cost-of-ownership implications are (e.g. paying additional $ to fix flaws, reliability issues that arise that result in additional repair expenses, etc).

All these companies are at a big stand still right now. I talked to the guys at Trick Flow and we were throwing some suggestion at them and they were all ears. Brian said he talked to them too but i don't see them moving on a project like this till the economy straightens out.

casting quality ranks pretty high on my list since one of my "MADE IN THE USA" W5 heads couldn't be repaired due to the poor quality aluminum they used. Purchase heads, get cnc port job, buy smaller stem lighter valves, springs, runs the number..... leaks. wheel chocks anyone?