I have seen a lot of reccomendations for heads here and NO mention of the Edelbrock Performer RPM heads. Any particular reasons?

I think that they flow well for a 170 cc runner. There is a member here who has a 68 El Camino running well into the 11's with these heads on a 383. I think that they are a good value for the $$$ spent if they meet youir performance goals, but there are a lot of better flowing heads out there. There were also some who questioned the finished castings and machining on them.

I'd be that member :D I bought these heads because I started to build a street cruiser, not a racer. If I were doing it over again, I would go with something slightly larger, like AFR's or Canfields. That being said, these heads have done extremely well for me. Never in a million years would I have expected to run this quick with them. They are still exactly as they came out of the box. I'm not sure if there is something unique about my combo that makes it work well with these small heads or what. I have not heard of many others racing with them...

I am running the RPM's, which I bought in '96, but only put about 1,000 miles or so on them (car's been sitting for some time :( )...I never took it to the track, but do have to say I have no complaints with the RPM package that I am using...even with 2.73 gears and 2,400 converter (I am changing it to T56 and 4.10's though to really get the benefits outta the motor)...I imagine for full-on racing there are probably better selections out there, but for the average Joes like us, I think they do just fine, esp. for the price...another reason I went with them, fwiw, is because that was really before the internet, so selection was limited...

The only thing that I have personally seen that could use changing is the valvesprings (make sure you only run 1.5:1 rockers!), which are prone to valve float...however, that may be heresay, as I haven't experienced it...Greg, have you had any problems with yours? (btw, dang everytime I see your posts, you have a quicker time, he he)...

I have sort of a set that had about 10 dyno pulls & 300 miles on them & the customer now has a new Merlin block & AFR heads.
Long story but I don't use them any more unless you buy them & it is your decision to use them.
I do have a picture of the piston & rod that came out of the engine that will attest to the strength of the Scat capscrew rods though :D

BTW, Same piston type, same cam grind, etc.,, different block & AFR 195's,,,,,,,about 30-40 HP more ;)

Sorry to hijack this thread :D

Mike, have you tested any Trick Flows? How do they compare? Feel free to email me if you don't want to violate any "bashing" rules.

Mike

I have Performer RPM heads with angle plugs and 1.6:1 rockers. I haven't been to the track yet with them but the previous owner of the engine shifted at 6500.
Guess I'll find out if there is valve float. I hope I don't find out what Mike's long story is first hand :eek:

Mike,
Haven't used the Trick Flows. They had some issue when they first came out but I have heard nothing bad about them latley & that is usually the first thing you hear on any part :D


Doug,
This was not a valve float problem & there are a lot of EDE heads out there happily running along so it may have been a fluke in assembly or a component problem considering where they were bought.
Please don't ask where they came from as I don't want to go there ;)
I have used other EDE heads that customers have bought that had no problems I just feel for the money difference there are some other alternatives I like better.

I've been running the Edelbrock Performer RPM heads since late 1998 on my 350. Never had a problem with them. I'm running the Comp Cam XE 268 camshaft and matching valvesprings, retainers, locks, and lifters, along with Harland Sharp 1.6 roller rockers. I ran my car on a chassis dyno a few years ago Results and combination (http://www.geocities.com/chevyman1971/Pages/dyno.html) but was a bit disappointed. HPs were lower than I thought, but maybe it's because of the cam or carb. I'm looking into stabbing a solid lifter cam, but can't find my UDHAROLD recommendation on this site anymore :( .

I've read in the magazines that 30-40 hp can be had with some minor port work and bowl cleanup. Just what I read though, so who knows about that claim.

Remember reading an older mag. article where american speed (Trent is owner i think) said with just good bowl work into good valve job could get 50 more horse on the rpm heads which sounds too good in my book!If my calculations are right this 170cc port that flows 232cfm stock would now flow 256!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sounds very efficient for a port that small.Is this possible????????????

I have the RPM heads and cam. I bought mine in 1994, but only have about 1000 miles on the motor. 7+ years to complete everything. I've been to the track about a dozen times, and have picked up time through tuning (not changing any major parts). Overall I'm pleased with the heads, although, if I had known then what I know now, I probably would have gone with the AFR's.

I think what's being said here is that these heads are a very conserative design, fairly small port, meant to give good all around performance on a 350. This is typical of Ebrock parts, IMO. I'd be surprised if the machine work had problems, though, if it was done at Ebrock. Over the last 25 years or so of building engines I've had very good results with Edelbrock parts. I think they do more engineering of quality control than most vendors and have the resources to buy the CNC gear it takes to mass-produce and retain quality. If you want a 200CC port for an aggressive 383 or 406 these are not the heads for you. If you want all around good performance on a mild 350 or 383 they're great. All this, of course, is just IMHO, YMMV, all that jazz.

Tom

I shift my car at 6400-6500 on every 1/4 mile pass. I've probably got at least 250 passes on these heads, with no problems so far. Like I said, these are not the ideal heads for an aggressive combo, but they are a quality head and can perform better than most expect. I keep bouncing around the idea of going to better/larger heads, but it's hard to mess with a combo that works.

Wolfplace,
I have a REALLY hard time believing that swapping AFR 195's onto my combo is going to make an additional 30-40 HP. If I knew for sure it would make that much more power, I'd do it for sure. I just don't think you are going to find that much more power on a well setup combo...