Are These Heads a Good Deal?

[67Satty]

Here's how the ad describes them:

"mopar 906 heads, stainless valves, 2.1 in 1.8 ex, pocket ported, new seals, heads made 525 hp on a 440 + .030 10.75 to 1 with 100 octane gas with an 850 holley"

He's asking $400 and they've been for sale for awhile. He doesn't have any paperwork or receipts but he has the name of the shop that did them and he called the shop and the shop said they flowed 275. I guess I could call the shop and quiz them too.

You guys think something like this is worth considering as an upgrade to my stock 452s or should I just save for the Stealths?

Right now I'm running a best of 7.86 in the 1/8 on a good day with good weather and good track prep. On a more typical hot day with 3000'+ DA and indifferent track prep, I'm running in the 7.90s to 8.00s.

My goal is to be solidly in the mid to high 7s in the 1/8 no matter what condiditons.

 

[Furyous]

When someone say's they flowed 275 ask them where did it do that at? .600 lift .800lift? Also ask what was the ramp of the flow.. A slow ramp will yield little gain. You want a head that flows and flows fast...

400 for a set of cast heads that are maxed out now per the seller I would walk away from. A set of stealths out of the box will be better and give you room to grow.

 

[67 coronet]

most of those claims are easy to check.measure the valves,look for the pocket porting,check for the new seals.if he would right out a signed paper against cracks that is a smoken deal.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Yeah but to inspect um that close he has to buy um. I don't know dude. With no flow sheets I think I would pass. You could add some to the purchase price and get the 452s worked and KNOW what you have.

 

[Budnicks]

that's not a bad deal, if the guy is on the up & up, they are what he says they are, they probably have that much in machine work & parts, personally I would save more & buy the Stealth's or RPM's {E-Streets 291cfm flow w/75cc combustion chambers also}, just with the weight saving 50+lbs off the front end, run cooler, less intake heat, smaller combustion chambers better cc design & better out of the box port flow #'s, is worth the extra $400 or the $800 Stealth's original purchase price {RPM's or E-Street 100% USA made, w/quality parts, good to 0.600" gross valve lift OTB, are more money, than the foreign casted Stealth's but are great heads too}, then you should also do some mild port work & upgrade the seals, springs, locks & retainers, with quality pieces another $100, check you push rod lengths, then thoroughly check & clean/inspect them too & you will make more power than a set of 275-cfm flowed/mildly pocket ported & heavy Iron 906's, but that could still be ported considerably more too... they are "probably" also a little better than your stock non ported 452's thou... Apr. ball park 2.06-HP per cfm of intake flow, making the 906's as is, if they are accurate about the max flow rates {who knows at what lift}, 2.06 x 275 = 566.5-hp they would be maxed out about 566-hp under near perfect tuning conditions... you can make much more "easily" with the RPM's E-Streets or Stealth's with mild mods... maybe IQ52/Jim LaRoy will chime in here soon....

 

[383man]

I agree if all is true its not a bad deal but I would also walk away and save for Stealths. The thing with old worked iron heads is unless its a guy you know and trust you just dont know what your getting. Old iron heads can crack and how do we really know they are as good as he says. You would be much better off getting the Stealths and then later you can always have them ported. Course thats just my opinion. Ron

 

[IQ52]

Maybe the first, maybe the only head question that I like all of the responses to. I like iron heads properly prepared, but unless you tear them down and have them inspected by a pro you never know for sure what you are getting. But then if you buy a pair of Stealth heads (or anyone's heads) they need to be checked out also. If you buy used iron heads and they aren't what they are supposed to be, who is going to warranty them?

Buy a fishing boat and the iron heads, you'll most likely have a PAIR of anchors to go with.

 

[Cranky]

I sold a set of 906's several years ago for 400 that flowed the same as out of the box Eddy RPM's. They went 10.60 on a 440 in a 3200 lb car. But...the Eddy head is a better design and would probably go faster on the same setup that the 906's were on. Just because 2 heads flow the same numbers doesn't mean both will perform the same in the real world. Air flow is one thing and fuel flow is another. Air doesn't care about port shape as much as fuel cares. Air can better deal with a lousy port shape but fuel can't deal with that as well and can drop out of the air stream and puddle etc. That comment is kind of an over simplification of what happens.....but should explain a little bit about what happens when people race flow benches vs what happens on a track.

 

[Meep-Meep]

In a perfect world this is a good deal, and by perfect world I mean they are good. But a bitter pill to swallow if they're not good.

I recently bought a set of 67 390 heads and I was there to inspect them as assembled but when I got them apart I immediately saw they need guides and a valve job. If they didn't come with a brand new set of adjustable rockers and shafts I would have been pretty unhappy. As it is I didn't get hurt for the price for a set of "done" heads. You have to be really careful with some parts.

 

[67Satty]

I guess another way to approach potential deals like this might be to ask, how much is a fair price for a pair of 906 cores needing everything? $100? Let's say for the sake of argument they have to be worth at least $50 as cores.

So then, what would be a good price to take a chance on something like this? Or would most say not to even bother with an offer?

 

[Meep-Meep]

Yep, most iron head cores I have bought at swap meets were $25.00 ea to $40.00 a set and I figure that's not a terrible loss if one or both are junk. It's also been my experience that BB heads don't really crack and if they do it's typically under the exhaust ports. Maybe I have been lucky or possibly being astute by targeting heads that have never had any prior work done. Over the years I have accumulated 7 sets of 915 heads and only one was cracked, but not cracked in the chamber so it's repairable. Now I wouldn't buy a set of used 351C heads unless I can mag them right there!

This set of 390 heads is the first set of done heads I bought at a swap meet only because they are a one year only head and I could clearly see they had hard seats, new exh valves, surfaced and clean as a whistle with the aforementioned new adjustable rockers and shafts and all new springs and chromemoly retainers. All that for $450.00. New intake valves, all guides and a valve job and I'll be good to go.