12 Best Small Block Mopar Aluminum Heads (2023 Updated)

Heads look okay as far as looks. The valve spring seat pressure is 140, Speed master says these are for a hydraulic flat tappet, excessive seat pressure for application. The seat is as wide as the face of the valve, longevity is compromised.

Going to machine shop to correct seat and changing springs to 1. 250 springs with 115 Lbs. seat pressure. The larger 1. 460 diameter spring on this head will not clear a factory rocker arm. Poor description of cylinder head on Summits end.

Heads look great, no major parting lines in runners, machining is very good. Only issue was the sales write up which talks about the large intake valves. Specifications page shows the intake valve size at 2.

202″ which is a major error. Should read 2. 02″ with head fitting all standard geometry rocker arms. I hesitated from purchase of these heads for a couple years due to the over large valve size. This should be fixed in all future product information if this gets to the supplier.

Potential sale lost from wrong information.

The first thing I noticed, is the guideplates will not line up the PR, lifter and rocker. No mater how many times you try to align your valve train, you will see a few push rods at about 20 degrees off center.

The reason for this is you have to move a Pushrod on a few cylinders away from the casting which puts them at a significant angle. The next issue I noticed is they suggest buying Felpro 1255 intake manifold gaskets, they do not line-up with the intake runners, alot of trimming involved, the next issue is you cannot move the gasket high enough on the head to line up the intake manifold blot holes, so I had to enlarge all of the bolt wholes to get the gasket in the right place.

None of these are show stoppers, but having been an engine builder for 45yrs, there are too many small issues for me to be comfortable with them. Spend the money and buy a proven product.

These are going on my mildly built small block Chevy in an 1984 Blazer. For the money you won’t find a better quality

You wont find heads of this quality at a better price anywhere. Speedway and Try-State Cylinder heads both stand behind this product. I am running them on a 302 and purchased this set for a 351 build.

They don’t flow as well as some of the more expensive options available but they flow way better than OEM cast iron heads. These are perfect for a street build and the price is outstanding!!.

Perfect fitment, good quality heads on a budget! I recommend purchasing ARP studs and guideplates for perfect rocker alignment. The supplied ones are generic and poor fitting. The heads alone are excellent fit and quality.

I was actually pleasantly surprised at the swirl polished valves and the large spring pockets for if you want to run larger springs with a monster cam! I think I’m in love, lol!!.

It’s not a good time to be building a performance engine. The supply chain issues are eliminating a lot of choices. I passed over a different set of heads at the recommendation of my machinist. These were available in stock and have the right size intake valves so I grabbed them instead.

They show to be suitable for the 221-302 Ford Small Block. But the springs they come with are for a hydraulic roller cam. I’m using a fairly mild flat tappet cam, so growing the installed height of the springs by 60 or 70 thousandths woul put both the seat pressure and open pressure weill within specs for a flat tappet cam.

The intake valves all have. 09 of shims installed so they look good. Exhausts have only a. 030 shim. So I’m into changing springs, retainers, locators, etc. on a brand new set of heads. Suddenly these heads aren’t so appealing.

I personally don’t think a prospective buyer should have to learn about this issue by reading reviews. It should be in the product description and specs.

I installed these on a factory 302 HO in my ’94 Mustang. At idle when vacuum is the highest the valve guides leak lots of oil into the intake. After idling for a couple of minutes the engine will start smoking horribly.

I first installed an oil trap in the PVC thinking something went wrong with the piston rings. It collects next to nothing. I called AFR about the problem and their only suggestion is to install a crankcase vacuum pump.

The problem is the oil drain back passage has very poor alignment with the block and the valves are sitting in a pool of oil. When the vacuum is high, the intake is sucking oil through the valves. A borescope down the intake revealed lots of oil in the intake runners near the valves.

I HAD TO CHANGE OUT THE SPRINGS FOR ONES WITH MORE PRESSURE DUE TO VALVE FLOAT AND I AM ONLY RUNNING AN E303 CAM. WITH THE STIFFER SPRINGS I REALIZED THE PEDESTAL MOUNT ROCKERS WOULD MOST LIKE FAIL SO I MACHINED THE PEDESTAL PADS, DRILLED AND TAPPED AND INSTALLED HELI COILS FOR ROCKER STUDS.

IF YOU DO THIS BE SURE TO USE PERMATEX #2 ON THE INTAKE STUDS. DON’T USE ANYTHING ELSE OR IT WILL LEAK. I KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE. THE NEXT ISSUE WAS VALVE SPRING INSTALL HEIGHT. ONE WAS OFF BY. 015 AND THE REST WERE.

030 AND 2 OF THEM WERE. 045. THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE IN MY BOOK. THE FIRST SET I PURCHASED WERE LIKE THIS AND I INSTALLED WITHOUT CHECKING THEM. I SENT THEM RIGHT BACK. THE NEXT ISSUE IS THE RECOMMENDED INTAKE GASKET FEL-PRO 1262.

The gaskets do not indicate which side goes out so be careful and don’t do what I did and install them with the raised seal facing the intake side. I assumed that’s how they went and I also used the end seals.

Both of these options caused an internal vacuum leak because my intake sat low and the end seals did not let the intake ports seal like they should have. My fault for not setting the intake on the engine to check my end gaps.

Install the gaskets with the raised seal towards the head and it will fit the ports much better. if you have over. 125 of gap at the front and rear ends and you are running a blower or a turbo then I would suggest making some spacers to take up the gap on the ends because anything over.

125 of silicone is likely to blow out. Other than this the heads flow nicely on the street. I would however like to be able to buy a set of heads and not have to go through them like I had to with these.

So after having these heads on 3 different SBC engines I am super happy even after 2 years of racing. First was my 350, then my 383, AND lastly my 406. Between those engines gained significant HP with these heads.

Best of all for those with a 400 SBC like I now have, the awesome thing is that these heads don’t need drilled for stream holes. Yes these are Brodix IK200 heads with Summit logo on them, and summit tech then called Brodix to confirm that the heads did not require drilling for steam holes.

The only modification for 400 SBC is the head gasket needs an extra large hole drilled out of existing water hole in block passage to increase coolant flow (Felpro has the diagram for this on them). My 406 runs cold and is a beast with these heads easily keeping me in low 12’s on pump gas! My 406 has a solid cam and just needed machine shop to apply proper shim height for spring pressure, but again these springs with work with hydraulic flat tappet cams and solid flat tappet cams by making shim changes.

Will always buy these Summit heads over my name brand Edelbrocks any day! Read other reviews about CNC’d areas and excellent quality.

Bought these heads. Opened box to see tag, designated for hydraulic roller cam , with a. 575 lift, not for flat tappet camshaft. This would mean spring pressures are not for flat tappet cams. Summit needs to research this matter.

There does not seem to be any difference between part number 162111 and 162112.

I put a set of these on a stock a stock ‘75 L48 C3 Corvette. I also added a Holley Street Dominator intake and a Holley 670 Street Avenger carb. Runs beautifully. Really woke the L48 up. One thing I do recommend is NOT to use the intake gaskets that come with them.

Mine leaked vacuum. I replaced the intake gaskets with Edelbrock set I had on the shelf and they sealed up great. A Felpro set would be great as well. Black RTV worked for me too.

So I bought this set of heads with high hopes, and a small budget. So far they seem ok but I haven’t ran them yet. When I received I have them a once over and discovered that one of the heads chamber volume was 69cc’s and the other was 64 on the money.

I contacted customer service and they were great at fixing the problem so I decided to keep them. Now I am installing my push rods. Well the guides aren’t lining up very well, and most need adjustment.

Others require modification with a file just to install push rod without the rods hitting or rubbing the casting. It’s not much, but I do have to file it. I expected that at minimum I could bolt them on and run them.

But that’s not the case. So far them seem ok but if you’re not familiar with this type of work, or if you don’t have the proper tools these heads aren’t for you and should buy something better. I am already looking at getting AFR heads and I haven’t even ran these yet.

I wanted to share this with you guys so you don’t just install them out of the box and run them. You might have large issues later if you do. In my photo is shows the clearance, but this is only after I had filed it.

You get what you pay for in the long run. Initially they ran as good as the equivalent Edelbrock Performer RPM heads in my 12 second bracket cars. However, I just found that the valve seats are failing and falling apart and wasted the pistons.

Buyer beware.

Bought these for a 383 build. Although engine is still at the machine shop , they look to be a very nice product.

Very nice heads for a man on my Budget, they do come with steam holes if you are running a 400 sbc. If you are going to run these on a 350 or bigger you will need to be cautious on head gasket you run.

The Felpro 1003 will not seal the steam holes the fire ring is located in a bad location and covers the steam holes in the heads.

Awesome pricing on a great head. Works great out the box. Skip those stock heads and add these in to your setup.

Affordable cylinder heads for the price, I’m a fan.

I’ve purchased a set of these very expensive heads, in the understanding that they were not only potent performers, but also of great quality, made in the USA product. I am an overseas customer, so every dollar counts.

Imagine my disappointment when I unpack the heads and find an abundance of aluminum chips, poor finish and casting flash. The water ports appear irregular in shape, and there has been no apparent effort to clean them up.

The spark plug holes have sharp bits of aluminum as the holes weren’t dressed up after the machining operations were performed. More seriously, the water ports on the head mating surface seem very irregular, and have pieces of aluminum protruding that might become loose during use.

I’ve contacted the company, and while they apologized for the issue and promised to correct it so it will not happen again, there was no further word from them about at least helping me to fix the issues (due to shipping costs, it is more expensive to return them).

These issues give me doubt on the functional quality of the product, so I will have to pay a local machinist to verify valve seal, seat concentricity and so forth. I will try to update this review with his report.

Hope this review is of help.

I purchased these 185 Renegade heads based upon all the positive reviews and personal testimonies for my application. I can honestly say these heads are like pieces of jewelry , Beautiful to look at, they Scream quality.

If they perform as well as they look, then they should be Great! won’t know until spring as my motor is being built over the winter, but I expect them to be perfect for my 331 SBF Stroker Motor into My 64 Fairlane 500 Hardtop.

They setup beautifully. Guide plates and all. My 347 runs awesome with comp cams xe282hr cam , rpm air gap and Aed 750 carb with 4. 30s and a 6 speed. It really does run great. I did use 7/16 rocker studs with trick flow 1.

6 rockers. I can drive the car as smooth as butter all day long. A little bit of a stiff leg from the clutch but that’s expected.

These are perfect for the low compression big blocks of the mid to late 70’s. I am building a budget 440 RV motor that should be a monster street tire smoker for under $3000. Low mileage 440 from an RV, Hughes Whiplash cam and lifters, E-Street heads and RPM intake topped with a Quick Fuel Brawler 850 double pumper.

This combo has been dyno’d at 460-ish hp at 5000 rpm and 550 ft lbs of torque at 2000 rpm.

pulled heads out of box, one head was in very nice shape, ready for service. the second head had not been full deburred from the milling process. extreme amount of burrs left all around the rocker shaft mounting pads.

disappointed discovering this situation. second time I have been disappointed with Edelbrock. I am through with their products.

Finished off my 1985 Jeep Grand Wagoneer 440 swap with these 75cc heads! Moves the 4800 lb Wagoneer to 60MPH in less than 6 seconds with 2. 72:1 gears! Had swapped the 440 into the Jeep in 2007 and it was time to make it better!.

The castings seem to be good quality and my engine runs very well. However, I was having a hard time setting the valves. Valve train was making a lot of clatter. While doing a hot lash for the third time I noticed one of the stud was rocking also.

Checked torque on the stud and it was tight. Pulled the stud and compared it to an ARP that came out of my old heads. I found that the installed bolt in my new PROMAXX head was basically junk. A far inferior bolt to the ARP bolt.

This is very disappointing, fortunately for me I had a set of bolts to replace them. I’ve read a few reviews of failures so I don’t believe this an isolated indecent. Based on this experience, to purchase the head bare, and build it yourself would be best.

Now I’m concerned with the quality of the rest of the parts on the head.

I picked these up from my local summit in Arlington. They had them in stock and the quality is awesome! Some of these reviews had me a little worried but I’m glad I took a chance with these heads. The machining is perfect and I don’t see any imperfections.

Even the intake runner cast markings are good. Once I start the engine i will give an update in a couple weeks to give more info on power/performance.

After 2k miles. valve guides are trash. Correct vakvetrain geometry, great running truck and everything. Took the head off because I blew another gasket and found the valves had wear marks. one valve moves so much it makes me cringe.

exhaust ports are more restrictive than a stock head, machine work from the factory was dreadful of course. Even after machine work and porting, I’m not impressed. Off to the machine shop once more to get more work done!.

The casting and all the threaded holes are dialed. The deck surface was perfect. My two complaints cast in valve seats suck to me. They also said ready to install and if u want to lose compression possibly burn a valve then go ahead and just instal it.

Me I like all my compression and a really good seal at the valve and seat. That being said I just lapped mine in took me awhile but that’s okay. Now I have a really solid sealing surface. I’d recommend a valve job but lapping them iin real nice is a MUST.

I’m waiting for the sun to come up and it’s fine in the hole.

After receiving head I took to machine shop just to have it surfaced. They called back confused and didn’t want to waste my money surfacing it. They checked it for straitness and said it was perfect.