Max Wedge EZ or TF 270 ?

planning a mild, street 426 Max Wedge engine build for a friend, & am looking for advice on which head is better quality out of the box ? looking at prices, the TF 270's are about $300.00 more. are they worth the difference ? also, will any solid valley plate work with either head ? or specific plate for each ? probably have many more question going forward & really appreciate you guys help. Thanks, Tom

Seems to me the trick flow 240 would be a better fit for a 426 ci. Street/strip engine. And best bang for the buck. I'm yet to hear from anyone using the 270 except for Andy Finkenbeiner doing some dyno stuff. The trick flow stuff from what I have read is ready to go out of the box. Indy stuff is definitely not.

using original max wedge intake

Indy EZ-1 heads - but have them checked over - not sure if the TF 270 is actually a true MW head

I would use the EZ-1's to get the MW port. We have them right now on a 512 using the oe crossram. Works great!

Are you sure you are comparing apples to apples? The EZ head isn't MW size unless you buy it that way and it is more expensive than the entry level head which is unported.

I have both heads and the TF head is much higher quality out of the box. You can't run the Indy head out of the box, it has to go to a head guy who takes it apart and fixes it. The guides are sometimes super loose in the Indy heads or the valve job isn't finished properly. The TF heads are very nice right out of the box. Still a good idea to take them apart and double check everything but you most likely will not need to fix anything.

Are the TF 270's worth $300 more than EZ-1's in ootb form?
Yes.

It remains to be seen whether or not the TF's would have more potential than the EZ's, but OOTB, the TF's are currently the top dog IMO.

I'll agree with that since at the moment I'm not aware of anyone who is porting the 270 heads for max power. The EZ heads have been around a long time and various shops have CNC porting routines for them. The very best EZ heads probably flow 40+ cfm more than the OOTB 270 heads.

So if a person wants an entry level head that has lots of room for improvement then I suppose the EZ head is the way to go. If you just want a nice CNC ported head out of the box then buy the 270 head.

Buy your Indy EZ's from someone like Porter.

This, plus I run the EZ-1s with a cross ram. No valley plate needed. Just some spacers for the end rails.

If it's any help I am running the 270's and had them ported by Larry Smith at flow2tech. They flowed 278@.700 on his bench and 284 on my local builders bench. The same bench flowed my 240's at a smidge under trick flows rated flow (330@.700 I think it was).
I can't speak to how well they perform yet as I am still dialing in the tune and haven't had them to the track yet. I can attest to the quality of the manufacturing though. And I can also say that the quality of customer service from trick flow is head and shoulders above what you will ever get from Indy. They were cool enough to swap out my 240's for the 270's 6 months after I had purchased the 240's and didn't even charge me a restocking fee despite the fact I had purchased them through a different distributor. Pretty solid customer service if you ask me.

not looking for anymore power from whichever head we go with. really just need heads that will allow him to use his original crossram intake & exhaust manifolds.

For street use I opened up a pair of Eddy RPM's to match the intake. I'm sure it's not ideal race stuff but runs fine in my buddy's 64 Plymouth on the street. .550"hyd roller, stock 63 carbs and intake, 10-1 440 short block, headers.
Doug

well can a source stealth head be opened up to work with a max intake ?

yes

I opened up my Super Stealths to Max wedge, but they take .650 offset intake rockers.

Buy a set of SR Max Wedge port size heads and run them
There is a local 1964 dodge 330 bracket car running those heads on his 440 short block with headers and non stock carbs, it runs good
I raced a 1963 415 HP M.W. in NHRA stock for many years ending in 1988, the better heads make more power and run better also

can't you just bolt on the max wedge port intake to a standard head and it work? would it not be the same as when someone uses a 340 intake on a 318 ? not a perfect match, but people do it & it seems to be O.K.

I have seen so many people buy a old OEM Max Wedge intake manifold and bolt it onto a set of stock port size 440 heads and wonder why their car didn't run any better with two carbs.
It is called "reversion" which a real power killer
Same thing on buying the reproduction 440 cross ram intake on stock type 440 heads, not good results either
BTW, putting a 340 intake manifold on a set of 318 heads will not work well either

if I could just bolt on the intake to a set of stealth heads & it work, that would be fantastic. remember, this is not a race car by any means.street only. engine will be around 10.5 to 1, with small MP .528 solid cam, and max wedge Manifolds.so would it work ?

[quote=titan]can't you just bolt on the max wedge port intake to a standard head and it work? would it not be the same as when someone uses a 340 intake on a 318 ? not a perfect match, but people do it & it seems to be O.K.

Am i reading this right ? 278@.700 on the 270 . Less than TF240. Or wrong number ?
At least no need for offset rockers with the TF270

Tex

do you want the customer to hate you because the motor you put together doesn't run good, including back firing through the carbs. killing the motor due to reversion in the intake to head transition
Do NOT do that
Unless you buy one of the A&A 440 motor look alike cross ram intakes for the stock 440 headed motors

This question tells me that you don't have much experience with these parts. If that is the case then you either need to find someone you trust to help you out or just start by trying to bolt some things together so you can figure out how they go together.

You're questions are all over the map which is why you are getting replies that are all over the map. The answers you get on Moparts will be very confusing for someone who doesn't already have a really good understanding of how the engines go together.

For example, the EZ head and the TF 270 head use extended intake ports. The other heads you are asking about such as Stealth heads do not have extended intake ports. So you are not comparing apples to apples.

One of best of the "down and dirty" ways for a budget friendly mw x-ram install is to use the stealth heads opened to mw size.

Thanks fast68, that's what I needed to see, & will do.and yes I have never been around a Max Wedge Engine before to know the exact head requirements.Tom

FAST... I have a question for ya...why take so
much off the bottom of the port... on my SB
stuff I tend to move the port up and it flows
very well

That's where the ports are oriented on a stock mw head......... To make it so the stock manifold lines up with the head..... I just match it to stock.

If you overlay the mw gasket on top of the std gasket and line up the bolt holes you'll see that the mw port opening extends above and below the std port opening.

Same gasket on a factory mw head:

The Stealth head pictured above, after also being treated to a more flow friendly valve job, back cut valves, and the bowls blended........ Flowed 288@.550 lift, which is way more than an unmodified OE mw head.

Chrysler sold lots of 318ci engines with 360 4-bbl intake manifolds that didn't match. They seemed to run well.

Some of the late 1970s up to the late 1980 Hi Po 318(if you can call them that) had the 360 heads, intakes and carbs.
Why Ma Mopar did that along with selling the Hi Po 360 at the same time is anybody guess

Sorry, that's a typo. It should be 378 and 384. That would suck if I paid for all that porting only to have less flow!

Tex

I'm pretty confused about the TF 270 heads on a low deck. After reading Andy's article my understanding is the 270's made about 700 HP with the stock Indy Low Deck intake (400-3) and more power with a ported standard port intake (750 HP). This is a small difference over the TF 240s. I'm now questioning my plans to use the 270 heads and anxiously waiting for Andy to test the ported 400-3 intake (per the article). Andy are you still planning to retest the 400-3 after Wilson ports it?

Thanks,

Steve

Yes, I'll re-run the 470 engine with the TF 270 heads once I get a new oil pump. I've been waiting a couple of months for a new pump. I have the intake back from Wilson and it looks great. I think the 270 heads will be worth about 50 hp on my engine over the 240 heads. The trick is that you need a really good intake manifold to get the heads to work.

Dwayne ,
in seeing this would it be practical to use a max wedge gasket on the source cnc heads . I use Felpro 1216 gasket and have to open them up to suit , I even had to open the pan up . I know height will be off . Or have you used Indy gasket 400- G1-210 from Hughes ?
I cut to at least 2.35 x 1.25 and may need a little more .
Sorry for the highjack .

Tex

Tex, the "if it were me" answer is, I would open up a valley pan gasket to the size I needed, and I'd reuse it as many times as I could.
I would just keep replacing the paper gaskets after manifold R&R.

Andy's bat wing system might be easier to rework for your application.

Hughes has their own gaskets that are made to be opened up to facilitate ports in between std and mw size.

thanks Dwayne
Tex

The issue you're having is why I like to leave std port openings actually "std" size on heads without raised runners(heads that will use the valley pan gasket).

It's also another reason I prefer to use raised runner heads if possible....... Just to get away from the valley pan gasket!!

Batwings to the rescue! That is the whole reason I developed the batwing concept. It allows you to fiddle around with the side gaskets but still have a nice solid area to seal to the valley plate. But it is a lot more expensive and it adds some hassle factor to the engine build.

Thanks Andy , have looked at them and feel that will be where I go later this year . Try the expense from down here , exchange and freight .
But I think may be best solution . I had a homemade plate but it did start to weep at head face .
Or fit that modman up

Tex