Okay. I got a 1989 W250 that i swapped a 5.9 Magnum into. the motor has a Edelbrock RPM Air-Gap intake and a Edelbrock 600cfm cafb. I got a rebuilt trans, transfer, new clutch, ball joints, rancho suspension, dana lockers at both ends, and a dana 60 up at the front. But I had read somewhere that the Magnum motors had the absolute best flowing heads that dodge ever produced, but were prone to warping or cracking. in the same article they mentioned that EQ Heads makes heads with the same, or even better flow but didn't warp/crack. also edelbrcok and RHS. now i looked for EQ's but i found some that went on a LA style block. Now I'm on a teenager budget and I'd like to have yalls expertise on what is the best bang for the buck and where i can find them! thanks!!

They are pretty much ALL cracked, of course out of all the dodge trucks runnning around I never see any with a cloud of smoke following them so I just run em and don't lose any sleep over em any more. I have built tons of them and never had one come back complaining about coolant loss. I used to get them pressure tested at the machine shop but they never found any leaking so I don't even do that any more.

They are the best SB head the factory ever made, not just flow but tons of other improvements. The are not the best flowing mopar head ever... Pretty much any hemi heads from the 60s on flows better and the max wedge heads. They make as much HP as any run of the mill BB head.

Well you can buy them directly from EngineQuest, also from Brian at IMM in California, from Hughes Engines, and many other places.

But first, back up, pardner!
You just CANNOT believe everything you hear. Many, probably the majority of Mag headed engines out there, have over 100,000 miles on them and are being used.
It's true that Mag heads have the tendency to crack between the intake and exhaust valves, but those heads came this way from running engines and the cracks don't leak.
Mag heads are not the best flowing wedge heads Mopar has produced, that used to be W2s. The mag head has three advantages:
1. Really good exhaust port.
2. Really good chamber as long as you get the piston up to zero deck or close.
3. Decent flow.
Now, porting can change anything, but no way would I pay money to get Mag heads ported. The EQ heads are better to start with. There are also RHS heads which come from a really good head manufacturer, but seem to be a little behind EQ heads out of the box. Then trailing back there are the Chinese copies.

So in closing, your engine will probably not develop external combustion because of the Mag heads, but there are versions out there that work better. They might be out of your financial grasp at the moment.

Get your vehicle on the road and have fun with it or it'll become a garage queen.

Follow the link below, they're the first head on the page.

http://www.aamidwest.com/index.php/enginequest/eq-cylinder-heads/chrysler-magnum-head/

R.

Mild budget economy build? run the stock heads. they'll support 400 crank hp as-cast, and the cracks are not detrimental. If you're worried about the set you have, then take them to your machine shop and have them leak and pressure tested, to make sure that A) coolant won't leak into the chamber, and B) compression won't leak into the ports.

but if it were mine, I'd run it.

alright, cool. actually seals any worries I had, or have. Alot of the reason i went searching about the topic is because i plan on doing doing forged internals and a cam kit from comp. I really do appreciate yalls help!!

A hughes whiplash roller cam/spring package is hard to beat in a stock magnum engine.

my stock JY 91 LA318 whiplash roller cam engine is still scratching.

my 440 truck just got a whiplash installed. freakin awesome in a BB 440 truck.

just picked up a 98 5.9 360 that will be getting the 360 magnum whiplash roller for the w350

cheapest bang for the buck running Junk from the yard

That combo got me 285 rwhp 325 rwtq

Started as stock 5.9. Swapped to a thinner head gasket, added the whiplash cam, and since it was an EFI truck, I added a 2bbl M1 intake, cheap mid-length headers, and reprogrammed the stock EFI computer with SCT. Even had the stock restrictive throttle body and those nasty cracked stock heads.

You should have the same results with a 750 CFM carb, a nice dual plane intake, and headers.

You won't be able to run stock tune with a whiplash cam, but with SCT to reprogram the stock computer, the stock computer, sensors etc will work fine with that cam

with the wiplash cam do u have to cut the valve guides down?

Probably not with the Whiplash, I believe Hughes designed them with low enough lift, but ask them.

For my part, I would advise to yes cut the valve guides down, it is really quite easy with the right tool. On my 318 I bought a used cutter that finished the OD to fit the factory seals and cut down the height. So basically the cutter didn't touch most of the ODs.

If you go this route be careful with the cutter. Don't let it drop on the guide. I broke mine this way, now it leaves a step that I have to take off by hand, or buy a new cutter.

R.

ok thanks making sure op knows what getting into before cam change,and my future reference

thanks

The stock Mag valve springs are really wimpy anyways. I'd think they probably float when the revs get high on a stock engine.