340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads

Posted By: 73cuda340

340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/21/09 02:46 PM

What do you guys think would be a better choice for my car, the edelbrocks or the x heads? I currently have an LD 340 intake, Comp XE268 cam, Hooker competition headers with 2.5" exhaust, thermoquad carburetor and low compression 340. Would the power gained by the Edelbrock's be worth the $1400 for the heads? I'm on a tight budget so I don't want to spend the money if the gain wont be worthwhile. I dont have either set of heads right now so I'll be getting a set of either. Im trying to get this car to go 12's if possible.

Posted By: WILD BILL

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/21/09 02:55 PM

I don't have a lot of compression in my 440 but when I switched from iron head to the Eddy's I really noticed the difference. It might havd had to do with it being the last step to getting my combnation "matched up" but it was like a new motor.

Posted By: 69Cuda340S

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/21/09 03:04 PM

Go with the Edelbrock closed chamber 360 head. That will get the compression up and the Edelbrocks flow a lot more then x heads. It is advised that you have the valve job and valve guides looked over by a machine shop prior to installing.

Posted By: Bad340fish

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/21/09 03:05 PM

By the time you buy a set of X heads and get them machined to be race ready your going to be withing range of the edelbrock heads IMO. I would go with the Edelbrock heads as they are a nice piece. Plus you will have more room for potential ET after porting etc.

You could run 12s easily with either cylinder head.

Posted By: B3422W5

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/21/09 03:08 PM

Quote:

What do you guys think would be a better choice for my car, the edelbrocks or the x heads? I currently have an LD 340 intake, Comp XE268 cam, Hooker competition headers with 2.5" exhaust, thermoquad carburetor and low compression 340. Would the power gained by the Edelbrock's be worth the $1400 for the heads? I'm on a tight budget so I don't want to spend the money if the gain wont be worthwhile. I dont have either set of heads right now so I'll be getting a set of either. Im trying to get this car to go 12's if possible.

Years ago, i had my original 340 motor in my duster. the shortblock was untouched as it came from the factory.So, 10.5 compression.

I made the following changes to it.

230/238 hughes hydralic cam
airgap, 750/3310 vacuum secondary holley carb. 1 5/8 tube cheapie headers.
i had bone stock 2.02 j heads on it.

I took bone stock out of the box eddie heads and bolted them on the car, and went to the track.
The car , on the first outing, picked up 3.5 tenths over its previious best before swapping the eddies on. Subsequent tuning and testing resulted in it picking up a total of 4 tenths over factory 2.02 heads.
With the 10 inch coan convertor i had, and the 4.10 gears i was running, the car had previously went a best of exactly 13 flat.

With the eddies on it, it clipped off 12.60's consistantly.
I think had i stepped up the smallish cam, it would have run even better, also maybe touching up the eddies valve job, etc.

All this time i ran the stock stamped rockers, pushrods, etc.

At that point i swapped out the factory motor and went to a 416..............

your results might vary...

Hope this info helps

Posted By: patrick

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/21/09 03:21 PM

Quote:

What do you guys think would be a better choice for my car, the edelbrocks or the x heads? I currently have an LD 340 intake, Comp XE268 cam, Hooker competition headers with 2.5" exhaust, thermoquad carburetor and low compression 340. Would the power gained by the Edelbrock's be worth the $1400 for the heads? I'm on a tight budget so I don't want to spend the money if the gain wont be worthwhile. I dont have either set of heads right now so I'll be getting a set of either. Im trying to get this car to go 12's if possible.

on a budget? get the enginequest "Iron Rams" hughes is selling in the new products section for $800. get the 318B's with the LA intake pattern.

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...e=0#Post5090712

can use any chevy rocker or stock magnum rockers (~$80/set new), need to measure and get pushrods (~$50 from summit), and need magnum head bolts (~$20).

LA valve covers work on them. any X head that needs valves/guides/springs/seats is going to be more than $800 to build up, and don't flow as good as the EQ's....

Posted By: 73cuda340

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/22/09 01:30 AM

Has anybody tested the two heads to see the gains?

Posted By: Triple Threat

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/22/09 01:41 AM

Quote:

Has anybody tested the two heads to see the gains?

Here is my experience

Low compression 340, similar camshaft to yours, Old Offy intake, 2.02 valve 915 casting Iron heads (basically the same exact thing as an "X" head,)2800 converter, 3.91 gears and a 26" tire The car went 13.80's consistently.

WITH NO OTHER CHANGES I replaced the iron heads and reassembled the car with 63 cc edelbrocks. First day to the track the car went 12.81@106mph. Took a full second off my ET's. You have to understand I gained about 1 point in compression doing this swap as well going from 8.5:1 to 9.5:1. The edelbrocks have a smaller CC combustion chamber, so that was likely part of the reason for the power increase.

Cliff Notes :
My car went 13.80's @99mph
I put on a set of edelbrocks and the car went 12.80's @106mph
I was very happy with my purchase

You should get a set too.

Posted By: cbarracuda

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/22/09 01:42 AM

Power gained? Maybe with a lot more compression, full ported X heads are better. For that price I would suggest W2.

Posted By: formula S

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/22/09 02:32 AM

Quote:

Go with the Edelbrock closed chamber 360 head. That will get the compression up and the Edelbrocks flow a lot more then x heads. It is advised that you have the valve job and valve guides looked over by a machine shop prior to installing.

Posted By: 70AARcuda

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/22/09 04:14 AM

Quote:

Power gained? Maybe with a lot more compression, full ported X heads are better. For that price I would suggest W2.

the guy only wants to get into the 12s...

the price for w2 rockers these days will cost pretty close to 1000.00...then he needs new intake manifold, headers, pushrods, plus the cost of the heads and machine work...

the eddies are a very cost effective buy..the eddies out of the box will get ya there.

Posted By: 340B5

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/22/09 10:57 AM

I use home ported J heads and have run 12.02 in bad air (29.5) on a windy day ~~~~~~I have $700 in them. You probably need a little more cam to go deep into the 12's.

Posted By: patrick

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/22/09 01:39 PM

lemme repeat, hughes "IRON RAMS"

flow 95% of an eddie head for less than 5/8 the cost, come assembled with hughes 1110 springs (120lb seat, 300lb@.5" lift, 360 lb/in rate).

here's from hughes website (I cropped so they're side by side):

nice apples to apples comparison since these are all done at the same shop on the same bench. the 1.92" valve enginequest heads flow nearly identical to the eddies until .5" where they give up 10cfm. X heads would flow pretty much the same as the '576 heads in the chart.

using stock mag rockers would up the lift on your cam to .509/512" lift.

stock magnum rockers are $9.69/cyl from rockauto.com, or you can use any aftermarket chevy/amc roller rocker...scorpion performace rollers (made in florida) are $200-250 for amc apps on ebay

order the 318B's, LA intake bolts up, LA valve covers & headers bolt right up to mag heads too.

if the MP 7.625" conversion pushrods are too short (has been the case for some people), summit sells 7.65" pushrods for $63.

the comp lifters are amc style with pushrod oiling provisions, so your total cost (using OEM rockers) is about $950....or less than $1100 using some pretty nice roller rockers.

Attached picture 5181012-flow.jpg

Posted By: 69Cuda340S

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/22/09 01:49 PM

For someone on a budget the Engine Quest heads are a good buy assuming he needs to buy lifters, rockers, and push rods any way. They will out flow x heads, get the compression up, and have a quench combustion chamber.

Posted By: Challenger 1

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/22/09 03:55 PM

Quote:

Has anybody tested the two heads to see the gains?

I have tested them with the seat of my pants. The Edelbrock heads made more horsepower for sure and made my car handle better than my old 2.02 iron heads. Best thing since sliced bread for SB mopars.

Posted By: Valiant_Showoff

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 04/22/09 06:16 PM

I replaced ported J-heads with out-of-the-box Eddies on my 360 and was very happy. It runs cooler, doesn't ever detonate and I can have them ported later if I want to go faster than my current 11.90's

Double check the valve guides before running them though.

Posted By: 73cuda340

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/12/09 11:20 PM

I bought a set of ported J heads at carlisle for $650. Fully rebuilt and it looks like they might have been milled. Supposedly flow more than Edelbrocks out of the box, according to the guy. Well see how it goes.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/12/09 11:36 PM

Edelbrocks.. with just a "mild" port job,mine perform extremly well probably never go back to iron heads..

Posted By: Baxter61

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/13/09 12:43 AM

Id say if your limiting yourself between the edelbrocks and the x heads, you really need to examine how tight your budget is. Its what, $1200 for new eddys then maybe another $200 to have them checked out. So given they dont need to be fixed, your $1400 in them. You can be less that $700 into a set of irons and you will can get into the 12's fairly easy.
No, I dont think that iron heads are as good as Eddy's, and if he goes with something other than an x-head you can save some more coin on the castings. But when the budget gets really tight, $200 to $400 here or there can become pretty significant and if its the difference between going racing and sitting at home waiting for the extra cash to buy the eddy's, Id rather go racing.

Posted By: dustergirl340

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/13/09 12:54 AM

I'm using the original untouched X heads that came with my 340 and my car runs high 12's.

If I were starting from scratch I'd find J heads (cheaper than X and just as good) or save for Edelbrocks.

Posted By: patrick

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/13/09 01:18 PM

Quote:

I bought a set of ported J heads at carlisle for $650. Fully rebuilt and it looks like they might have been milled. Supposedly flow more than Edelbrocks out of the box, according to the guy. Well see how it goes.

unless they're ported or have some super secret valve job, he was BSing you.

Posted By: emarine01

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/13/09 01:22 PM

Milling .065 off a J head and pocket porting the intake with a good valve job ,you will need to cut the intake side too, turns Js into quench head , A lot cheeper than eddies , similar results

Posted By: justinp61

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/13/09 01:58 PM

Quote:

Milling .065 off a J head and pocket porting the intake with a good valve job ,you will need to cut the intake side too, turns Js into quench head , A lot cheeper than eddies , similar results

I have a set of ported J heads, they flow in the low 260s on the intake, good valve job, milled .070. If they have any quench it's very little. My hydraulic cammed 340 went from 10.3-1 compression ratio and ran a best of 7.60 (1/8) with the iron heads to
11.2-1 with ported Edelbrocks and a best of 7.24 and lost almost 50# off the front end. I'll take the Edelbrocks over 40 year iron castings any time.

Posted By: Brian Hafliger

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/13/09 02:08 PM

Quote:

What do you guys think would be a better choice for my car, the edelbrocks or the x heads? I currently have an LD 340 intake, Comp XE268 cam, Hooker competition headers with 2.5" exhaust, thermoquad carburetor and low compression 340. Would the power gained by the Edelbrock's be worth the $1400 for the heads? I'm on a tight budget so I don't want to spend the money if the gain wont be worthwhile. I dont have either set of heads right now so I'll be getting a set of either. Im trying to get this car to go 12's if possible.

Anyday now I should be getting the first set of RHS cast iron X heads in for evaluation. I'm thinking with a valve job, surface cut, and bow work they will be less than edelbrocks and make more HP than OOTB Eddy's.
But I can't say that for sure just yet....
Remember too, most guys do a valve job and surface cut on eddy heads before they use them, adding to the overall cost of the eddy's.
I'll post info just as soon as they come in!

Brian

Posted By: BobR

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/13/09 02:15 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Milling .065 off a J head and pocket porting the intake with a good valve job ,you will need to cut the intake side too, turns Js into quench head , A lot cheeper than eddies , similar results

I have a set of ported J heads, they flow in the low 260s on the intake, good valve job, milled .070. If they have any quench it's very little. My hydraulic cammed 340 went from 10.3-1 compression ratio and ran a best of 7.60 (1/8) with the iron heads to
11.2-1 with ported Edelbrocks and a best of 7.24 and lost almost 50# off the front end. I'll take the Edelbrocks over 40 year iron castings any time.

I don't like iron heads and will always take aluminum for a couple of reasons. I really don't know why anyone makes iron heads any more. The OEM now uses aluminum almost exclusively.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/13/09 02:46 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Power gained? Maybe with a lot more compression, full ported X heads are better. For that price I would suggest W2.

the guy only wants to get into the 12s...

the price for w2 rockers these days will cost pretty close to 1000.00...then he needs new intake manifold, headers, pushrods, plus the cost of the heads and machine work...

the eddies are a very cost effective buy..the eddies out of the box will get ya there.

Thats why i sold my w2's and w5 heads,you smoke a rocker and you can't even get a replacement,you have to spend over a $grand for new complete rocker set up as crane and mopar no longer offer them,

Posted By: aarcuda

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/13/09 04:33 PM

im using the same old milled, ported and polished TA iron heads that ive had for 1lmost 20 years

Attached picture 5227136-intakebowl82ndviewsm.jpg

Attached picture 5227136-intakebowl82ndviewsm.jpg

Posted By: aarcuda

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/13/09 04:35 PM

and they seem to run pretty good

Attached picture 5227146-headintakesidewithspringsbettersm.jpg

Posted By: S/ST 3040

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/13/09 04:38 PM

Quote:

unless they're ported or have some super secret valve job, he was BSing you.

Getting more from a factory LA head than OOTB Edelbrocks isn't that difficult.

Posted By: 73cuda340

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/13/09 05:14 PM

Quote:

Quote:

I bought a set of ported J heads at carlisle for $650. Fully rebuilt and it looks like they might have been milled. Supposedly flow more than Edelbrocks out of the box, according to the guy. Well see how it goes.

unless they're ported or have some super secret valve job, he was BSing you.

The heads are ported, and he said that they outflow out of the box Edelbrock heads. I planned on going for the Edelbrocks after reading your guys responses as I liked the flow, compression increase and lightweight of the aluminums but I couldn't pass up the deal. I'll try to post pictures of the heads when I get a chance.

Posted By: 73cuda340

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/25/09 01:36 AM

heads

Attached picture 5250144-DSC03652-1[1].jpg

Posted By: fasteddie

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/25/09 05:21 PM

Quote:

What do you guys think would be a better choice for my car, the edelbrocks or the x heads? I currently have an LD 340 intake, Comp XE268 cam, Hooker competition headers with 2.5" exhaust, thermoquad carburetor and low compression 340. Would the power gained by the Edelbrock's be worth the $1400 for the heads? I'm on a tight budget so I don't want to spend the money if the gain wont be worthwhile. I dont have either set of heads right now so I'll be getting a set of either. Im trying to get this car to go 12's if possible.

If your pistons are the factory or factory replacement pistons with the 2 valve reliefs, they are positive deck (out of the bore). You will need to measure piston to head clearance with the edelbrocks because you are going from a open chamber to a closed chamber.

It's a good idea to know the piston to head clearance no matter what piston and head you use. If you can, get .040 to .045 clearance for good quench.

Posted By: Cab_Burge

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/25/09 06:06 PM

Quote:

I bought a set of ported J heads at carlisle for $650. Fully rebuilt and it looks like they might have been milled. Supposedly flow more than Edelbrocks out of the box, according to the guy. Well see how it goes.

I sincerely hope that those heads work for you, most guys selling used parts are not real truthful. You now have a set of 40 + year old heads that should be taken aprt and carefully inspecrted and magnaflux before using them

If your not going to listen to the advice offered on here why waste those peoples time

When it comes to buying parts for high performance motors you can buy the good parts once or buy the used parts many times looking for the good ones

LIVE and LEARN

Posted By: 73cuda340

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/26/09 03:39 AM

Quote:

Quote:

I bought a set of ported J heads at carlisle for $650. Fully rebuilt and it looks like they might have been milled. Supposedly flow more than Edelbrocks out of the box, according to the guy. Well see how it goes.

I sincerely hope that those heads work for you, most guys selling used parts are not real truthful. You now have a set of 40 + year old heads that should be taken aprt and carefully inspecrted and magnaflux before using them If your not going to listen to the advice offered on here why waste those peoples time When it comes to buying parts for high performance motors you can buy the good parts once or buy the used parts many times looking for the good ones LIVE and LEARN

I wasn't wasting anybody's time and I listened to what everybody had to say and I appreciate all of the replies. But it's not like I just bought these heads to buy them, the ones on the motor currently are the 1.88 intakes and all of the valve seats are worn away so badly that I can see a gap between the valve and the seat in some spots, so instead of dumping tons of money into the heads I bought new ones. Plus I'm only 18 and my car is still in the body shop so Im on a very tight budget and have to work with what I have. Im not looking for a full blown race car, I just wanted to hopefully go 12's or low 13's. Thanks to everybody for their input.

Posted By: LA360

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/26/09 04:33 AM

If it's a budget deal, I'd look at the EQ Magnum heads. For the power required they'd more than do the job. I would steer away from a 40 y/o head if I could, last 360 headed engine I worked with, I bought 3 sets before I got a decent set, and they still had been welded for a crack.
AL....

Posted By: patrick

Re: 340 Edelbrock heads or 340 X heads - 05/26/09 11:56 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

I bought a set of ported J heads at carlisle for $650. Fully rebuilt and it looks like they might have been milled. Supposedly flow more than Edelbrocks out of the box, according to the guy. Well see how it goes.

I sincerely hope that those heads work for you, most guys selling used parts are not real truthful. You now have a set of 40 + year old heads that should be taken aprt and carefully inspecrted and magnaflux before using them If your not going to listen to the advice offered on here why waste those peoples time When it comes to buying parts for high performance motors you can buy the good parts once or buy the used parts many times looking for the good ones LIVE and LEARN

I wasn't wasting anybody's time and I listened to what everybody had to say and I appreciate all of the replies. But it's not like I just bought these heads to buy them, the ones on the motor currently are the 1.88 intakes and all of the valve seats are worn away so badly that I can see a gap between the valve and the seat in some spots, so instead of dumping tons of money into the heads I bought new ones. Plus I'm only 18 and my car is still in the body shop so Im on a very tight budget and have to work with what I have. Im not looking for a full blown race car, I just wanted to hopefully go 12's or low 13's. Thanks to everybody for their input.

good luck, I hope they aren't cracked, I'd be leery about buying any 40 year old used set of heads without having a machine shop I trust go over them with a fine tooth comb. I woulda ponied up the extra $150 and bought the enginequest 318B's from hughes. all new parts from a reputable vendor, no suprises, verified on their bench to flow about the same as OOTB eddies, & cheaper aftermarket roller rocker options...