TFS VS Edelbrock heads

[Tony Radford]

I've got to decide very soon as to whether I'm going to keep my existing TFS Twisted Wedge heads or replace them with the Edelbrocks (Performer I believe). It's a polishing (exterior) issue. Consider that either set will be ported and polished prior to reassembly of the engine. I can get my existing heads polished (exterior( for around $100 each or get new Edlebrocks that are factory polished for $150/ pair additional price on the completed stroker. The heads will be installed on a 427 Windsor stroker. Any opinions as to which head is better? My gut tells me to stick with the TFS heads and pay for the polish job.

[ToyCollector]

Why not reuse a perfectly good pair of heads? That's what I would do if the performance difference was in the 5-10% range, assuming you are not going racing.

On the polishing bit, not that much of the head shows to the casual observer once valve covers, intake, exhaust is mounted, but if you want them polished, who am I to argue .

[wilf leek]

Tony - my suspicion would be that you will need better flowing heads than the Edel Performers on that stroker engine. Lots more air to move than on the std 351.
I have Vic Jrs on mine and they work just fine. Probably could do with some porting as well. Were I building now I would probably go to the AFR225s, maybe 205s, depending on cam.
I am not familiar with the Twisted Wedge heads, sorry.

[Tony Radford]

Mike, I'm getting the heads, intake and timing cover polished and going with an Edelbrock polished, high-volume water pump. Bill will send the intake (post porting), timing cover and water pump (I'm having the Edelbrock trade mark removed from the pump) to the polishers before I take my car in to have the engine removed. If I use my existing TFS heads, the engine will have to be removed and the heads tweaked by Bill's guys prior to sending them to the polisher which equates to extended downtime. He has offered to trade me a pair of the Edelbrock heads with factory polish so that I don't experience the downtime. I'm just wondering if I'm giving up performance by trading my TFS heads for the Edelbrocks in the interest of limiting downtime. In addition to limiting the downtime, I come out a few dollars ahead by getting the pre-polished Edelbrock heads as opposed to paying to have my TFS heads polished. The real question is whether or not there is any noticable difference in the head performance since SA is doing additional porting and polishing anyway.

Wilf, going with a set of racing heads is not an option as I don't want to replace my headers. The TFS "R" and AFR 205s have non-standard exhaust ports. I'm probably making a big deal out of nothing, but it's now or never!

I won't even get into the carburetor issue.

[wilf leek]

Tony - you may be right about the exhaust ports on the AFR heads, but I thought they were still in a stock location - I would have to double check the catalogue to make sure. They are in the stock location on the Vic Jrs.
What dia primary pipes do you have? That stroker is going to want 1 7/8" to breath properly.

[Tony Radford]

I found an interesting "head shoot-out" article at fordmuscle.com. From what I've been able to determine, it looks like the TFS heads are superior with respect to flow. I'll stick with the ones I have. My header tubes are 1 1/2". I spoke to Alan Weaver, and it looks as though changing them out is not in the cards. There is so little clearance between the exhaust manifold bolts. My existing tubes are crimped a bit to allow the bolt heads to be turned. It seems like this would be a bottle neck for any larger size tubes. I guess I'll have to settle for a bit of restriction.

[wilf leek]

Tony - you make good point about having to "squeeze" in larger dia primaries on stock exhaust port configurations - my own are necked right down, and I use allen-headed bolts instead of hex heads to make a little bit more room. This seems to work quite well, and I drilled them so that I could safety wire them to stop any rotation.

If I ever change these heads, I would look for some with the alternate bolt pattern ( Gulp - is that a "chevy" pattern??) to allow the use of bigger primaries without any "necking down" at the flange. We live and learn I guess.

[Tony Radford]

Wilf, what diameter tubes are you running on your car? I've spent a couple of hours this morning taking to header fabricators about this issue and it seem hopeless unless I want to throw excessive money at it (that I don't have). If I was going to have a new set fabricated, I would be inclined to go with a racing head that has the exhaust ports spread out a bit. I'm going to post a new thread to get some idea as to what other stroker owners are experiencing.

[wilf leek]

Tony - my primaries are 1 7/8" dia, running into 4" collectors.

I thought long and hard about this, and considered the fact that the primaries have to be reduced to match the port outlet and flange, and to get clearance for the bolts. Having said that, they are only reduced close in to the flange, and that is no worse than the actual port in the head??

I can't offer any practical advice on whether this dia primary is better, or by how much, over 1 1/2" ones. I just thought that since I was achieving big block cubes, I ought to follow big block exhaust practice. Or at least get a little closer to it.

[Tony Radford]

Wilf, sounds reasonable. If I'm not careful, this hobby will become a job! I found a website for a custom header fabricator in So. Cal who gives a bit of technical insight as to how primary tubes are sized. As is usually the case with technical papers, it sounds complicated. I think that phase I of my journey (400 HP to 500 HP) might as well include my existing headers and Phase II (500 to 600 HP) can include racing heads and the headers to match. At least that way, I can stay married and my daughter can stay in college.

[wilf leek]

Sounds like a plan.