Opinions on Stealth Heads Please

I'm planning a mostly stock 440 build, probably in the 400-450hp range. 2355 forged pistons and under .500 hydraulic cam with stock rockers. What do you guys think about the aluminum stealth heads "out of the box"? Have people had
good luck with them or stay away?
Thanks!

Just get the Trick flow 240's and be done.

If you are looking for stock appearance,they are the only game in town. If appearance is not an issue,then there are other options. As far as out of the box,and bolting the Source heads,it's hit or miss,so I have read. I would recommend having a shop check them out before installing them. I have heard of guides being to tight,and one instance of a porosity issue. That could have just been one bad casting.

I would never run ANY head out of the box without my machinist checking them over first.

I have Stealths but they have different springs, locks and retainers. They have over 5,700 miles, lots of dragstrip passes and still run great.

We make 600 n/a and ran a 150 shot through them some last year. We recently jetted up to a 200 shot and haven't been able to get a clean pass at the track.

That said, a buddy bought Trickflow 240's and loves them!

My Stealths are the fiorst ones made.No problems after all these years.I did have locks springs,retainers changed because of my .588 solid cam.Machinist who was a perfectionest said they all looked good.He did back cut the valves and open them up some.Dont matter what head you buy they shopuld be checked.Heard quite a few Eddys that werent right out of the box.Rocky

I’ve had several sets come through my shop in the last 18 months or so.

From strictly a “functionality” standpoint, none of the ones I’ve had here in the last few years had anything wrong with them to the point where they would have caused any “problems”.
Sure, the valve job and the way the seats transition into the bowls leaves some flow on the table....... but that wont cause any issues that would leave you on the side of the road.

I can’t think of a single set of aluminum Chinese heads I’ve prepped, for any engine platform, that had the guide clearance too tight.
If anything, they’re generally on the loose side.
Yes...... they probably should be checked....... but tight guides wouldn’t be something that typically needed correcting on these heads.

Btw, I haven’t looked at their website in a while....... but the advertised flow #’s at one point were pure fiction.

They are typically in the 260/185@.600 range ootb.

I think they would be the best head for you given what you are building.

I've used Stealths on one stock-ish appearing BB and Eddys on another.
Both cases, I upgraded to double springs & retainers, had them checked over, including guides, and port clean-up & matching.
No real problems with either, as stated the flow #s are optimistic until worked on.
I'd do another set of Stealths without reservation for another stock-appearing build.
OOTB is something I just don't do, but plenty of guys have with Stealths & Eddys.
Both engines were street-strip deals, neither was going for the best/biggest head or max HP possible.

I have a set on the convertible. My castings were pretty nice looking. No issues with the valve guides. As mentioned, the port to seat transition is not great from a performance point, but nothing that would be an issue other than port flow. In my application, I did not use the springs and retainers, because I went hydraulic roller cam. I did use the springs and retainers later on a friends 440 with 906 heads, and the Mopar 292/0.509" cam.
I wanted a but better flow, so did some mild porting on the heads and a performance valve job. I think after the work, they flowed around the 290 cfm advertised. We did not check the out of the box flow, but I think I read another post where is is around 260-270 cfm out of the box?

comparing flow numbers from different benches isn't useful, some are more optimistic than others. Comparing changes using the same bench is.

Thanks all for your responses. Seems having them checked out would be the right thing to do. I am not looking to do anything fancy with the engine and I want stock plug angles and ports etc. Other than having them checked out, would me doing a very mild port/smoothing on the intake and exhaust be a good idea? Also, with a .480-.490 lift cam would keeping the stock spring and 7 degree locks be ok?

Smoothing the ports is worth nothing.

There are some obvious issues under the valve seats and with the short side radius.

Take care of those two things, leave the rest of the port alone.

All the parts are fine for something like a .480 lift hyd FT cam.