Edelbrock FE alum heads: Feedback?
 

I'm shopping for a set right now and would love to hear any feedback on your experience with them, good or bad. I'm planning on getting the 76cc (427) heads because I'm using the TRW L2245f .060 over pistons in a '69 428 CJ motor and I like the idea of a slightly lower compression ratio that the 76cc heads will get me vs. the more standard 72cc Edelbrock heads. I figure the combination should get me around 9.7 compression ratio vs. just over 10.0 with the 72cc heads. I figure the 439 cubic inches that the .060 over bore will get me coupled with a low riser, dual quad (600cfm carbs) set up and a reasonable cam for the street (Comp Cams 270H or 280H?) should be make up for a couple of fewer points on the compression ratio?

Other then reducing the oil accumulation problem in the heads by opening the drains a little (or alternatively reducing the incoming oil supply to the heads- I think Gessford sells some plugs) I haven't heard any bad news on the heads. Thoughts? Feedback?

The heads are designed for med. riser intake only,If you use low riser you will have to grind the heads to match.I just put them on stock 427,seems to run real nice ,no experiance on road yet as body at bodyshop getting painted.I bought Blue Thunder repro Med riser 2x4 intake seems very high quality.

One of my buddies just put a set on his 390FE and absolutly loves them! He had some "PI" heads on there before the Edelbrocks. Sorry I don't have any real technical info for you. Enjoy! -wingnut13

The heads are great! I recommend the 72cc heads. I don't think you will have a problem with compression ratio. I would use new Edelbrock studs for your rocker shafts instead of bolts because helicoils are known to fail with repeated tightening with bolts.
These are medium riser heads so use medium riser manifold. Dual 600cfm carbs may be too much for normal street driving. I switched to dual 450's with mechanical secondaries and found they are crisper w/o the vacuum sec. and better on gas mileage.
Paul

I put a set on my Shelby 4 weeks ago and contrary to most postings here and in other FE forums I found the quality of the finish and valve job of very good quality. So much that I only did a minor bowl clean up and installed them as is.

I used ARP Head bolts and stock rocker assy bolts, just replacing the 2 extra long ones with standard lenght ones. Making sure none bottoms out. (helps having some extra FE parts arround)

I have driven it 800 miles since and had zero problems so far. The only thing I really did not notice was a substantial power increase.

It sounds a little different and revs a little higher but thats about it.

Fun as always, just don´t have to carry the lead supplement anymore. :D

Tim,
You did not mention what kind of car the motor will be going in.
The E-brock 427 heads only have the 2 bolt exhaust pattern which will make installing headers in say a Mustang or Torino a nightmare. No problem with a Cobra, though.
--Mike

Has anyone gone with the complete Edelbrock head set-up, meaning with valves, springs, etc.?

Thanks,

Tom T.

@Tom T

Yes, I bought the assembled heads!

@ SFfiredog

Installing ANY header on a FE powered Mustang/Shelby is a nightmare!
I love&hate my hooker headers !

Make sure you use the best gaskets and install them properly - you do NOT want to do this again.

There is one more issue that has not been mentioned - the valve spacing varies a bit from stock CJ heads. It's not drastic, but you do need to pay attention to your rocker arms when you install them. They will likely need to be shifted side to side to line everything up. This can be accomplished by placing shims as needed between the rockers and adjacent stands to slide the rockers over on the shaft. Erson makes a very nice rocker setup and sells a shim kit to go with it for use on the Ebock heads. You can also buy rocker arm sets that have some offset built in - can't remember the name of the guy who sells them but he is on e-bay all the time. I assume you will probably end up with a RPM manifold as it is an excellent street manifold and the price is much easier to swallow than a repro med. riser 2x4 piece. At any rate, check your pushrods for clearance within the holes in the manifold. They sometimes conflict.

You will be pleased with the heads, they are overall very nice and perform well. You do need to pay close attention to these items though or you could be setting up for trouble. If you need to get the smaller chamber heads for the exhaust pattern, don't worry about the compression. As long as you stay less than 10.5:1 you should be fine because the aluminum eliminates many of the problems that come with high compression. Also DO use the studs for the stands. Otherwise you have to put extra washers under the long bolt, and that is the one your oil comes up through. You don't want to take chances messing that up. Drill out the oil return holes and install restrictors in the oil passages. Don't try to use your factory head bolts, you will quickly realize you cannot get a socket on some of them. You need to buy the Ebock head bolts because they have a smaller head (I think this must be a racket on Ebock's part) and be sure to use washers under the head bolts to protect the aluminum. I know I threw a lot of information out there, but if you are doing this for the first time there's no way you could know all these tips and I wish I had known all of this the first time I installed a set.

Two things I forgot, as previously mentioned, on the 72cc Edelbrocks, the intake valve position is set about .060" further out from the rocker stud centerline, thus be prepared to shim your intake valve rocker further out by this amount. But go by clearance of pushrod through the manifold bores and the contact between rocker and valve stem. I use a piece of wire as a go-nogo guage. Also, remember to orient your head bolt washers the right way with inside bevel toward bolt and square corner toward the head.
Good luck!
Paul

Did you go from iron heads to aluminum ones without changing your pistons and/or compression ratio in some way.

Aluminum heads will actually produce less power due to the greater heat absorption of the heads as compared to iron heads.

Many thanks for all of the thoughtful feedback. You guys have clearly saved me much time and effort with your experience.

@Sizzler

The motor is a PI so it had the small valves. Since the chambers were about the same size (don´t recall exactly about 72-73 cc) I didn´t change anything else.
Even the rocker arm alignment was ok, so no shims were needed.

I kind of expected more power by going fom the small 2.03/1.56 to 2.09/1.66 sized valves. But power wasn´t really the issue.