SB Head Comparison Magnum Heads

Posted By: 19Charger74

SB Head Comparison Magnum Heads - 09/11/09 03:42 AM

I've been reading alot of books and message boards about which small block mopar heads flow more and cost less. I've come to the conclusion on 3 heads well 4 i guess. Engine Quest magnums, RHS Magnum/LA heads, Magnum R/T and the W-2 heads.

EQ heads flow good, you can get the intake bolts for Magnum or LA style intake's but you have to run magnum rocker arms & pushrods.

RHS you can order either Magnum or LA heads that use their own valve train.

Magnum r/t heads flow good but better when opened up.

W-2 heads flow pretty good but cost alittle more.

In my opinion im stuck between EQ heads with LA intake bolt pattern and the RHS LA heads. Has anyone got Flow rates for the RHS heads yet? I've been trying now for about 2 weeks on the internet to find some.

Posted By: patrick

Re: SB Head Comparison Magnum Heads - 09/11/09 01:33 PM

Quote:

I've been reading alot of books and message boards about which small block mopar heads flow more and cost less. I've come to the conclusion on 3 heads well 4 i guess. Engine Quest magnums, RHS Magnum/LA heads, Magnum R/T and the W-2 heads.

EQ heads flow good, you can get the intake bolts for Magnum or LA style intake's but you have to run magnum rocker arms & pushrods.

RHS you can order either Magnum or LA heads that use their own valve train.

Magnum r/t heads flow good but better when opened up.

W-2 heads flow pretty good but cost alittle more.

In my opinion im stuck between EQ heads with LA intake bolt pattern and the RHS LA heads. Has anyone got Flow rates for the RHS heads yet? I've been trying now for about 2 weeks on the internet to find some.

ask and ye shall receive:

hughes RHS flow info

compare to hughes stock mag/enginequest/RT/LA head flow info

EQ's flow ~ 10% better OOTB than OEM mags, RHS's look to flow ~10% better than the EQ's OOTB. R/T's were discontinued a few years ago, so you'll have to find used or NOS.

hughes sells the eq's assembled with stock replacement valves and their #1110 spring package for $699. the cheapest they sell the RHS heads with identical springs/valves is $875. if you're on a budget, dunno if the extra flow is worth $175. that's the price of a cam/lifter package, or a reground roller cam, or near the price of a good magnum rocker arm setup (USA made scorpions).

one positive to the magnum rocker gear--nice rockers are MUCH cheaper than an LA/W2 setup. OEM mag rockers are carryover amc 290-401 parts, so aftermarket rockers for that app will work. Scorpion performance makes a direct replacement pedestal mount roller rocker for AMC's that you can get for under $250 (and made in the USA). or if you drill/tap the rocker mount holes to 3/8 or 7/16, any aftermarked small block chev or ford rocker will work. unless you want to go with the suspect offshore stainless rockers or aluminum rockers, you might have a hard time finding a good quality rocker for an LA for under $500.

you could add the edelbrock LA and mag heads into the mix, too. they're reasonable cost, and the mag heads are already set up for using 3/8" stud chev rockers, IIRC. hughes has flow data for them on their website, they flow about the same as the EQ heads on their bench:

hughes edelbrock flow

W2? probably closer to $800-1000 for rocker gear...and you need a W2 specific intake. I thought the new W2's available now can't use older W2 rocker gear, and the only company making rockers for them was jesel or T&D.

Posted By: 84Stepside

Re: SB Head Comparison Magnum Heads - 09/11/09 02:33 PM

looks like the price went up on the iron ram heads, still a good deal tho

Posted By: patrick

Re: SB Head Comparison Magnum Heads - 09/11/09 03:26 PM

if you look on hughes website, they're $699 with OEM replacement alloy valves, $799 with polished stainless valves. both use the #1110 spring.

the RHS's are $875/975 from them with the same valve/spring packages.

Posted By: kick_the_reverb

Re: SB Head Comparison Magnum Heads - 09/11/09 05:20 PM

One point about the EQ vs RHS - the LA RHS can use stock rocker gear, so if someone is converting an existing LA motor that has good rockers, the $175 higher price needs to be deducted from the savings of not having to buy rockers.
Ran

Posted By: 19Charger74

Re: SB Head Comparison Magnum Heads - 09/12/09 03:21 AM

Right on! Thanks Patrick.
Just wondering but has anyone used EQ or RHS heads on a build up yet?

Posted By: patrick

Re: SB Head Comparison Magnum Heads - 09/12/09 05:53 PM

tampabayflyer used EQ's on a 390 (4" stroke 318) and loved them, Jesse lackman used the old RHS mags (don't think there's much different between them and these new ones) with some mild work done to them and made 520HP/540 TQ with a 238 @ .050 hughes hydraulic roller.

Posted By: 19Charger74

Re: SB Head Comparison Magnum Heads - 09/13/09 04:06 AM

Wow 520hp!! that's wild in my opinion. Does he have a build up somewhere on here of what he used?

I'm was looking at RHS heads with 2.02 valves, 1.6:1 roller rockers, Eddy Air Gap intake,Voodoo Cam 268/276, Lift .494/.513, 750cfm holley, hooker comp headers.

I figure close to 425hp or more cause i'm close to a 318 build that made that much.

Posted By: patrick

Re: SB Head Comparison Magnum Heads - 09/14/09 11:51 AM

it was over on the race forum a while ago:

Jesse's magnum build

what size motor do you plan on doing? 318, 340, 360, stroker?

don't forget, with that cam and 1.6's, you'll actually be .527/.547 lift. what block are you starting with? if you don't have one, I'd start with a magnum and use a roller cam, personally.

Posted By: 19Charger74

Re: SB Head Comparison Magnum Heads - 09/14/09 04:53 PM

"Patrick" Well i have both blocks. I have a 360 LA thats in my charger and i have a Magnum i pulled from a truck. I was going to go with the LA engine simply because its running but i need to take out the transmission because im rebuilding it over the winter.
I was going to have the block bored .30 over but i lost my job so i'll re ring a block put a set of heads that flow around 260cfm at .500 lift, Air gap intake with a 750 holley and low duration higher lifting cam.

My problem is i dont know if i want to use the shafter rocker style or the magnums style valve train. With the magnum i can get roller rockers for less then the LA style's and i get a 1.6:1 rocker arm ratio so i dont need a really big cam.

Posted By: patrick

Re: SB Head Comparison Magnum Heads - 09/14/09 05:40 PM

Quote:

"Patrick" Well i have both blocks. I have a 360 LA thats in my charger and i have a Magnum i pulled from a truck. I was going to go with the LA engine simply because its running but i need to take out the transmission because im rebuilding it over the winter.
I was going to have the block bored .30 over but i lost my job so i'll re ring a block put a set of heads that flow around 260cfm at .500 lift, Air gap intake with a 750 holley and low duration higher lifting cam.

My problem is i dont know if i want to use the shafter rocker style or the magnums style valve train. With the magnum i can get roller rockers for less then the LA style's and i get a 1.6:1 rocker arm ratio so i dont need a really big cam.

and you can regrind the magnum roller & reuse the roller lifters for about the same cost as a flat tappet cam and lifter package.

Posted By: 19Charger74

Re: SB Head Comparison Magnum Heads - 09/14/09 05:45 PM

`Patrick` If i reground the cam wouldnt that make the lift lower then what it is and change my duration. I thought the magnum cam was all around low everything to begin with.

Posted By: patrick

Re: SB Head Comparison Magnum Heads - 09/15/09 01:55 AM

Quote:

`Patrick` If i reground the cam wouldnt that make the lift lower then what it is and change my duration. I thought the magnum cam was all around low everything to begin with.

they reduce the base circle to increase the lift/duration. my stock cam (LA roller 318) was ~ 240 adv/180 .050 and ~.260 lobe lift. bullet cams was able to fit a 259 adv, [Email]208@.050[/Email], and .316" lift lobe on my cam core. there is a limit of how much lift/duration they can fit on a regrind, it's mainly limited by the base diameter of the cam, and how deep the hardening on the lobe is. the guy at bullet said that the chrysler cores are among the deepest hardened, usually ~ .4" deep. for a stock pistoned 360 with the heads you've listed, I'd probably see if they can fit their HR272/340 lobe on that cam core....if not maybe the HR266/325 or HR272/320 or HR274/325....

call bullet cams (website is http://bulletcams.com/Masters/HRlobes.htm) I dealt with Tim there. good guy, went all out to make sure I'm satisfied, and I'm very happy with the way my 318 hauls around my porky 5th ave. it has as much power as my old LA 360 with an XE262