Stealth, Sidewinder, Trick Flow my head is going to pop!

Can someone PLEASE do a comparison to what is REALLY the difference.
Value, Quality, Performance, Ease of service and parts, Warranty support etc.
ONE of the things that bothers me most is that some/most recommend the first thing to do after you buy the heads is to have them gone through by a machinist before installing them. WTH!
Most of us have very limited budgets or we would all have custom work done by our personal engine guru's to our top secret spec's. lol
I dont know, maybe something like 1 to 5 stars in each category.
Thanks

Lots of options out there and I don't know what the main purpose of your car is but you can't go wrong with a Summit 10% off coupon and a set of Edelbrock RPM heads. Pull them out of the box with a cheap 8519pt1 head gasket and bolt them on as long as your under 575 lift and your pistons don't hit.

Summit shows the new Trick Flows on sale for 890.55 ea.

I've been shopping for a long time myself and here are some things I think you should consider.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Trick Flows necessitate the use of specific Harland Sharp rockers at around $600 for a set.

The Stealths will probably need new springs, locks, and retainers and you have to grind for clearance if you are using 3/8" push rods.

You can buy the Sidewinders from Todd Marsh here, all gone through and ported to flow better than a pair of Edelbrock RPMs for less than the retail price of the RPMs.

The Edelbrock RPMs are on sale for 25% off at Pep Boys a few times a year when they have their buy anything online for 25% off sales.

Nope

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Trick Flows necessitate the use of specific Harland Sharp rockers at around $600 for a set.


Suggest reading the thread on Trick Flow Heads. AndyF clearly lays out a multitude of set up options in terms of rockers. 😎

They don't "necessitate" it from what I understand, Trick Flow just recommends them for best geometry. You could run any rocker and have poor geometry just like running any rocker on any other head, it will work, the geometry will just be off.

"You can buy the Sidewinders from Todd Marsh here, all gone through and ported to flow better than a pair of Edelbrock RPMs for less than the retail price of the RPMs."


Did not know that, sounds like the way to go.

If you buy the CNC stealths they have Comp Cams retainers and locks . Springs change to suit your usage . I have a set and they are fine from Modern , I did mill mine and changed springs/retainers to suit my combo .Oh yes I did have to clearance them for pushrods .
I have also bought a set of Sidewinders from Todd Marsh . Fabulous help to me , he ported them to max wedge and supplied springs/retainers to suit . I have not dynode or raced this motor at this time . Todds service and pricing was better than I could have asked for .

Tex

If you're going to be shooting for 600+ hp then the Trick Flow heads are the way to go since they come out of the box already with the new combustion chamber design and CNC porting. The TF heads also have some nice options such as the .700 lift solid roller springs with Ti retainers. The TF heads are the very best deal going right now if that is what you want.

But if you want a stock looking aluminum head then you need the Stealths. The Edelbrock heads are decent if you're not looking for a ton of performance, especially the E street heads. The RPM heads are good solid heads but by the time you get them ported you'll have a lot more money invested in a head that won't ever work as well as the Trick Flow.

There is no one answer. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

To your question about going through "ready to run" heads......

I would certainly take apart a factory assembled cylinder head and check / setup the heads for your application.

Just assuming they are built up per spec and A-OK is a roll of the dice.

In case people missed it, they are 10% off at Summit for a few days starting today.

One good thing to do is call Dwayne Porter and get the head you decide on from him as he will go through them and set them up for your needs and his prices are reasonable and fair. I did that with my EZ heads as with my bad back I knew I could not do any porting any more and he is a pro at it so I know he would do a much better job then I could. So I bought the basic Indy EZ head from Dwayne and he set them up with the right springs and specs for my combo. He also did some minor porting on them for me. I dont remember the price as they were combined in with the other stuff I bought from him but I do remember saying to myself that his price was very good as it was cheaper then I thought it would be and I realized they were not more then the RPM heads which I was going to use but since the EZ heads were barely a tad more I went with them since I feel they have more potentail if I ever want to get them fully ported.

So I would call Dwayne if I were you and atleast check out his price and if you like it once you get the heads from him all you have to do is bolt them on. Ron

Great info from all! Thanks.
I guess the best part of this is there are several options. 😀

Divided into tiers:
$500 +/- find someone's used iron heads maybe 915 or 906's?
$1000 +/- Stealth Heads
$2000+/-Super Stealth, Sidwinders, Eddy's, Trick Flow
Everything depends on budget and desired outcome/application.
For a common street/cruiser/show/driver it's hard to beat the value of the 440 Source Stealths, for the more HP junky it looks like the Trick Flows would be my choice.

Ah Sidewinders are no where near 2000. Fully assembled with ALL good hardware READY TO go ARE ONLY 1195 FOR Hydraulic and 1249 for a solid flat tappet. Porting options might get it to two grand but then they are almost 330 cfm. Thank you for the interest.
Todd

So to recap, it appears that all the heads capable of 330 cfm @.600"-.700" after porting come in near the $2,000 mark.

There is a pair of Edelbrocks in the big block parts at a reasonable price. You can't have a decent set of iron heads for what the guy is asking!

I agree. Years ago I brought in a set of 516 heads. They would have been $1200 to make them work for a stock rebuild. Needed guides and valves and springs and whatever else. Even with that they would still only be a stock head since porting would have upped the price. Not all aluminum heads need work but getting a inspection is recommended or purchasing from a builder/head porter.

I just had them checked for cracks, the valve guides bushed and a standard valve job done on these virgin 915's. They surfaced (at my request) .010". I still need to spend more money (and time) on them!
I feel my money would have been better spent on Stealths or Sidewinders?

For a street/strip car on a budget the Sidewinders from Todd seem like the way to go, that's a GREAT price and he is a member here so you know the heads will be checked out and setup properly.

As far as Eddy RPM heads, I had them on my 3050 pound DartSport, 451 cubic inch pump gas motor, car went 10.20's with a 590 purpleshaft cam. I had Modern Cylinder port the heads and went very low 10's with a best of 9.96 in good air. Then I put a tunnel ram on the motor and went 9.89 so the RPM heads do work and they are affordable.

Buyer beware on the Eddy's that I have seen lately. I haven't seen the sidewinders in person yet but they look like the Renegade heads that I buy from Motorville. The castings are ok and it sounds like they are finishing them out properly. I'm building a set of 906 for myself. I like a challenge.

Rough cut on the intake port. This is 250 cfm with the 2.08 valve.

You know, as I sat here and thought about this, I just realized that I've never bought a set of Aluminum BB mopar heads new at retail.

Edelbrock RPM set, NIB, 1150$ from a Moparts member who had changed directions and was going Indy.

I ran these heads for 9 years, blew up two short blocks under them, had a buddy port match the runners to the intake, and clean up the bowls. After it was all done, I sold them to my brother for 1000$, with the Isky ductile rockers I had on them. My brother has three years on them with nary a problem.

Indy -1 top end kit, NIB, 2450$ was the third owner, they were never used, and had been sitting on a shelf for five years. I sent them to IMM with the intake, had both fully ported and set up with roller cam springs (1600$), sold the Indy rockers and bought a set of T&D's (950$) in 2007. Then put them on my shelf...someday, I'll use them.

Indy -1, ported jesel rockers, spray bar oiling, bolted to a low deck aluminum Indy block at 512 inches. Puchased entire used engine for 10K.

Indy SR set used 3200$ MW Ported, ported Indy intake, 1250 Gold Claw, Racer Brown Aluminum Rockers, Indy valve covers. Purchased from my brother, after he bought Moparts member Atoetly's complete engine.

Modern Cyl head CNC ported Stealths 1700$ from Moparts member. Bolted straight on the hyd. cammed 440 in my Belvedere to replace cracked, ported 915s. Love them so far, two years on them.

Between my 3 brothers and my dad, they've had another set of modern cnc Stealths, two sets of ootb stock stealths (bolted on and ran, no problems). Two more sets of Indy SR heads, two sets of Indy EZs and three or four sets of Indy-1s, as well as a set of Stage VIs that we repaired about a dozen times.

We just won't even bother with cast iron any more, not worth the time to port them, and then have them crack a few years later.

Im not suggesting anyone spend a lot of money on iron heads. I build cylinder heads. Its just my thing.

I think the Stealth head is the only one that had an external appearance like a stock head if that matters to you.
Several of the cylinder heads have different combustion chamber volumes so you compression ratio will changed depending on the heads.
Out of the box flow numbers vary. I think you can find some of the "real" flow numbers by searching the forums?
I have not seen any information on the quality of the valves, valve guides, and valve seats used in the heads?
For a stock port window big block head, the new trick flow heads look like a good deal.
Also, some heads use offset rocker arms (Indy, Victor, B1, Stage VI)
I haven't seen the sidewinder heads? Look like a copy of the RPM heads?

What engine are you building, and application?

I was ready to pull the trigger on a pair of EZ's when some Stealth's came up locally. They had the springs, locks and retainers changed but we're NIB.

I ran them unported on a low compression 440 with a cam, intake and headers. Did the swap from 906's in a weekend. Lots of fun! Drove it everywhere for a few months but I liked to rev it and had a stock, heavy piston come loose from a wrist pin.

Heads were fine with only two bent valves. I sent them to Modern Cylinder Head for porting and built a 505" stroker shortblock.

It recently came together and was AMAZING! Ufortunately I lost a cam a week after break in. It's apart and getting a roller right now. No more flat tappet solids!

Everyone that looks at it thinks they are stock heads. I really like the sleeper aspect as I painted the Street Dominator intake too.

The transition from a 8:1 CR 440" with stock 906 heads and cast iron intake to a 11:1 CR 505" with cnc ported Stealth's and a Holley Street Dominator is STARTLING!

I would not have a problem purchasing any of the heads listed but sure do like the sneaky factor of a Stealth.