Powerhouse AL Heads

[DaisyTrain]

I have looked using the search feature, and did not find information for this questions so I ask people that may have used them. For the very very low price of $699 you can have a set of their aluminum heads, granted I know you get what you pay for , but after punching in the supplied numbers into DD2003 it would seem that it would offer some gain over even vortecs in the low dollar division while saving weight. Of those of you that may have used who has used them on a 400? Thank you.

[HAM1974]

dont know about those but here in tn. there is a company called white performance that has patriot and pro comp heads cheap! check them out on ebay, look under chevy heads aluminum the find them in kingsport tn. They have a good write up on there heads in there discripton.

[Bakas]

Its up to you how mutch ya wanna spend, powerhouse sells alot of imported parts. Just be careful what you buy, i dont know mutch about those heads but why not spend another $300 and get some dart or patriot heads?

[stroker1]

why not spend another $300 and get some dart or patriot heads?HOLD UP there a minute! Don't put Dart in the same class with them imported chicken turd Patriot heads. Patriot ain't no gem either. Not saying they ain't decent but they ain't no Darts. Edelbrock is choice quality too, and so is Brodix. You can't get any better than Dart, Brodix, and Edelbrock for day in and day out quality. Everybody has a turd slip thru now and again but there's usually dont smell as bad.

[Bakas]

lol I personally like brodix myself, stroker I thought patriots were a decent head?? Are they really that bad?? Ive heard good things, even on here some people like them.

Hey DaisyTrain ive seen dart pro 1's sell for around a grand witch is a good price. Ever thought about looking for some used heads too? Ive seen some good deals go down on craigslist and ebay, you might wanna give that a try too.

[spacecadet]

I'd be leary of 'cheap' parts. especially heads made in ??? I guess China??? In my opioion its cheaper to spend more $$$ on better parts that will last than it is to buy cheap parts and have to spend more $$$ on reopairs when the cheap stuff broke.

My 2 Cents
Space

[stroker1]

lol I personally like brodix myself, stroker I thought patriots were a decent head?? Are they really that bad?? Ive heard good things, even on here some people like them.
They're an OK head for the money. Just like the others I guess. The main thing I know about them is they are imported castings and I think most of the machining is done overseas as well. The intake mating surfaces on these patriot heads are not true to the intake and the 2 surfaces do not meet at parallel lines to each other. This requires you to run an extra thick intake gasket. Also many times some head bolt holes, rocker stud holes, intake bolt holes, accessory bolt holes and valve guides will be off location or miss aligned. I hear patriot is good for standing behind them and helping you get the bugs worked out if you have problems with them.

For myself I will stick to the MADE IN USA stuff when it comes to something as complex as heads, valve train, and stuff like that. I might try a budget intake and do some porting and maybe a china water pump or valve covers but for the stuff that costs the big bucks I'm probably never going to compromise. The heads would have to be damn near free for me to mess with them if they're not USA stuff.


BTW, a product called "Patriot" that is made in china but marketed as the name Patriot in the USA makes my ass hole want to chew tobacco.

[Scotty_S-15]

Couple thoughts:
* Given the current economic situation, I'm thinking that we may start seeing a shift, however slight, toward buying stuff made is U.S.A.
Problem is, with too many items, we have NO choice!
* Sometimes buying the lesser product bites you in the ass down the road.
* .................................................. .................................................. .....BTW, a product called "Patriot" that is made in china but marketed as the name Patriot in the USA makes my ass hole want to chew tobacco.
Amen. Reminds me of the problem a while back with the product tag: "made in USA." Turns out Usa was a little island near Japan.... :s19:
.
.

[ProdigyS10]

edelbrock despite their claims of 100% made in the USA isn't i have some parts that had a nice stamp on them "Made in Taiwan"
i couldn't believe it, they were just valve covers but they boast about being all american so much i was shocked. mind you 1 of the 4 bolt holes in the valve covers weren't completely drilled either...

[stroker1]

Normally you don't see flaws from Edelbrock, but everybody has a turd slip out once in awhile. Unless they have just changed recently their heads and intakes are made in the USA. I have a set of 10 year old cast aluminum elite series valve covers from Edelbrock and they where made in the USA.

Good to know that someone has found otherwise on the claim their stuff is made in the USA. In most cases you usually get what ya pay for. Cheap stuff is almost always of lesser quality and higher priced stuff is almost always of higher quality.

[Bakas]

my bad, now I know patriots suck lol. Ive never seen a pair before just heard good things on what ive read. BTW I got trick flows on my motor witch I got dirt cheap, their pretty decent. Not sure if their made in the usa?

[DaisyTrain]

HAM1974-Thank you for your input about the heads that I am guessing come from your part of the world, and chances are I am guessing there are a bunch on some cars down there. They Look to be the same sorts that are coming from the west coast and powerhouse.
Bakas- Even though $300 isn't a terrible amount to spend in the hotrod realm, but it could be 300 spend towards something else, maybe some machine work on a block or a posi unit. any number of things. And you still arent 100% guarenteed that the heads are going to be anybetter than the ones you just took off expecially being an AL piece.
Space Case- Is this through some sort of shoddy chineese part you have broken? I don't believe we are 100% sure where these heads have come from yet. I am looking for someone that has as actually used them and can tell me the pro's and con's of this low dollar head.
Stroker-- is everyone in agreeance that the No-named powerhouse aluminum heads are actually patriot??
Prodigy S10-- I have seen that first hand myself, I know what you are saying there,

Bottom line I am collection opinions, and your guys opinion matter the most, as most of the ones I get are "well billy joe;s uncles friends used them and....." you know how that goes.
After a week or so I will make up my mind wether to get the heads or not, get a premium membership and then run the heads through their paces for once and for all on a reasonably mild 406/maybe 434. Thanks to all who have taken the time to respond!

[ProdigyS10]

let us know how they run... whatever ya go with... i constantly debate swapping out my vortec heads :)

[stroker1]

Stroker-- is everyone in agreeance that the No-named powerhouse aluminum heads are actually patriot??That's not what I said. I didn't say the powerhouse heads are patriots. I commented to bakas that a patriot head IS AN IMPORT. And they don't belong in the same class as a Dart head. And I promise you the patriots are made overseas. Don't believe me? Call and find out. I'm not telling you not to buy the patriots, powerhouse, procomps, or any of the rest of them. I'm just stating what I know from the articles I've read from people who do use them first hand. Try looking thru the forums on dragstuff.com and yellowbullet.com, etc. There are guys who have used them on there. I can tell ya something about the procomps, I had a chance to buy a set from a friend and they where new in the box for 800 bucks. I passed on them because I pulled a valve out and the seats looked like crap and the bowls had lots of flashing burrs from the die cast process and where ruff as a pine cone.


Bottom line is the heads work, and may be worth the money. But they are not in class with Edelbrock, Dart, and Brodix.

[grimpuppy]

No matter what heads you buy, Patriots, Dart, Brodix or whatever, you should send them to the machine shop to assemble. Even if they come preassembled, you should have them check them out. The things I have heard the most about the Patriot heads at the local track is shoddy machine work. Especially in the spring seat area. Seats not machined square on some of them. Some of the guys have had to get creative to get installed heights right. No matter what head you buy you should have them checked. Even my Dart Pro1 Platinums were not 100% right when I got them. They were pretty close but not perfect. A couple guides were to tight. That was a pretty easy, and cheap to fix compared to something being off in the geometry of the head. And that is the chance you will take with a lesser priced head. You might end up with $200 in machine work to make them right.

[DaisyTrain]

OK Cool, I appriciate your guy's opinion on this one. Chances are I will get the powerhouse deal just to see what they are about as I have never seen a write up on them. OK with that out of the way let me ask you this: 406 SBC, 2 valve relief flat tops, zero deck, XM276HR cam (I'm using the marine version for the 112 degree seperation angle)
What aluminum heads DO you recommend? All answers welcome :)

[grimpuppy]

Ah I got lost and thought we were talking about Patriot heads. I have never heard anything about Powerhouse heads.

[stroker1]

OK Cool, I appriciate your guy's opinion on this one. Chances are I will get the powerhouse deal just to see what they are about as I have never seen a write up on them. OK with that out of the way let me ask you this: 406 SBC, 2 valve relief flat tops, zero deck, XM276HR cam (I'm using the marine version for the 112 degree seperation angle)
What aluminum heads DO you recommend? All answers welcome :)Brodix IK 200 heads if it where my choice to buy what I wanted (for what I think you are going to want out of it.)

A friend of mine who owns and operates a machine shop has a set of aluminum "NO NAME" heads from Competition Products. They are the same heads as the power house heads. His are the generic made off shore heads with 200cc runners. They are OK heads but he did a fresh valve job on them and played around with the installed height with shimming to get them like he wanted them. They are on his sons S10 with a 383 hydraulic roller motor spraying 200 on it. He's light years away from running with my truck and I have a set of Edelbrock Performer RPM heads with solid roller springs, severe duty valve, and a good port match job and smoothed valve bowls.

My motor and his motor are not apples to apples, but I'm just saying you can do allot with any good head if you spend the time and money in the right places. I know I could benefit from a bigger set of heads but my combination is right and so it works very well even with small runner heads. My truck goes about 6.30 consistantly in the 1/8th with a 180 shot. My buddies sons truck goes about 7.25 in the 1/8th with a 200 shot.

[OH_YO]

Heres some info.

300 400 500 600 650 700
DART 230 Intake 188.6 233.5 267.1 280. 0 281.0 281. 0
Exhaust 148. 2 176.3 191.9 201.0 201.2 201.2
PROCOMP 210: Intake 161.6 206.5 240.2 260.4 264.9 264.9
Exhaust 131.0 148.2 152.8 152.8 152.8 152.8
Fully CNC'D 220: Intake 195.0 236.0 258.0 274.0 278.0 281.0
Exhaust 150.0 175.0 193.0 203.0 206.0 209.0
DART 200: Intake 191.0 231.0 256.0 258.0 258.0 264.0
Exhaust 140.0 168.0 184.0 192.0 195.0 200.0
EARLY PATRIOT:Intake 175.1 215.5 244.7 253.7 258.2 262.6
Exhaust 121.7 149.8 173.1 179.4 179.4 179.4

[DaisyTrain]

Well, I got my email back from powerhouse and with the lack of salesmanship they exhibited I believe NOW I will go with Brodix 200IK and say the heck with it. Although I did find, no, they are not american made (no shocker there) and they go to say they are similar to "pro action heads" Just 'similar' LoL
Thanks again guys for all of your inputs!

[stroker1]

I really believe you will love the Brodix IK200 heads. They are very good heads and they will do you a good job. And I think you will have something you can grow with but still not have too much head for what (I think) you are looking to have right now. You know, heads are a major investment. And if you can buy a set of heads that will be excellent for what you want and still can support more power than you are going to build then why not just make one investment instead of 2. At least that's the way I see it.

You never know, you may be like the rest of us and decide later that you want to go even faster. LOL!! Imagine that!! Then you will have some heads you can do allot with.

BTW, Is there any reason why you have already picked that cam? Just curious.

[DaisyTrain]

I really believe you will love the Brodix IK200 heads. They are very good heads and they will do you a good job. And I think you will have something you can grow with but still not have too much head for what (I think) you are looking to have right now. You know, heads are a major investment. And if you can buy a set of heads that will be excellent for what you want and still can support more power than you are going to build then why not just make one investment instead of 2. At least that's the way I see it.

You never know, you may be like the rest of us and decide later that you want to go even faster. LOL!! Imagine that!! Then you will have some heads you can do allot with.

BTW, Is there any reason why you have already picked that cam? Just curious.

From what I have put together in my mind, that cam seems like the optimum balance of what I wish to do, drive it, not really race it, I'm not looking for some maniacal idle that wont keep enough vacuum to power the brakes, so I chose a marine cam of all things, 112 degree LSA compared to the 110 with the automotive one, should give a little more power across the board and give a bit better vacuum. Thats my logic anyway. I could be way off track though.

[stroker1]

OK, I understand your logic. But it don't hurt to get advice from some experts. If I was you I would call 5 or 6 GOOD cam companies and ask their recomendation. Write down all there specs and compare. You can probably see that 1 or 2 will be way off from the rest. But most will probably be spot on. Then if you want you can still match their recomendation with the specs from what ever cam you choose to buy.

For instance: Lunati, Comp, Crane, Crower, Bullet (formerly Ultradyne), Howards Cams (division of Competition Products), Herbert, Isky, etc.

Maybe I assumed you where looking for more out of this thing. You may actually be better off with a set of Edelbrock Performer RPM heads. Why not talk to the cam guys about heads also. They can plug in a few numbers and talk you thru it and should be a big help to you.

I was actually thinking you may be looking for a set up similar to what scotty has.

[DaisyTrain]

Will do. I'll check some other manufacturers, I know I have always used comp in my other engines and like them a lot, One thing however I am not keen on this this "thumpr" cam? thats nothing more than some ricer crap there I think!!!
I plugged the numbers in with DD and even with the RPM heads and previously mentioned cam I came back with 425hp, could be a bit optomistic, usually is! But a nice tame streetable 400-425 is what I am gunning for with this 400SBC think I can do it? LoL gotta beat the 283 that is in there now (no offense to the 283 peeps!)

BTW I have an old Edelbrock streetmaster intake, worth anything?

[Bakas]

But a nice tame streetable 400-425 is what I am gunning for with this 400SBC think I can do it? LoL gotta beat the 283 that is in there now (no offense to the 283 peeps!)

400 hp should be cake with that motor, my 364 only makes around 400 hp and thats on pump gas. But im building a new motor for next year, 11.00 is too slow for me lol!