What to check on Stealth heads?

[Perry]

Starting to gather parts for my new engine. I bought some Stealth heads. From what I read on this site everyone says to have a machine shop check them out before installing. I bought the steel retainers and 10 degree locks.

Since this will be my first engine build, what should I have the shop check? Don't want to go in without a little background info. Also, how can I verify they are not the old castings that had the issues?

Perry

[Chryco Psycho]

Valve guide clearance off the top of my head .002 on the intake &.004 exhaust make sure the seats are concentric & seal well with the valves , make sure the seat height is even usually a straight edge on the valve tips will tell you . make sure the deck is flat , & check the installed spring height

[73restomod]

Another thing to do is polish the machined edge under the valve seats, takes about 10 minutes a port. This will get your flow numbers around they're advertised amount.

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[Perry]

Thanks both of you for your responses.

Perry

[HP_Cuda]

Mine only needed guide clearance of about .001-.002 so they were close but you want them smooth.

You definately need an angle job for good mating and flow.

[Perry]

Mine only needed guide clearance of about .001-.002 so they were close but you want them smooth.

You definately need an angle job for good mating and flow.

hmmm, OK.

My intent is to put them on a pretty much street only engine. Is the extra work necessary? I know a lot may say yes, definitely, with a race mindset but on some level I have to quit spending and get on with the rest of the build.

Perry

[Chryco Psycho]

nothing is nessisary but you will be kicking yourself later on it takes a few minutes

[72cudamaan]

Many aftermarket aluminum heads come with tight guides. If you have them sized properly, it
will save you alot of grief later on. Also, if the guides do need work, then you should have the seats
checked to make sure they are concentric to the guides. Yes, extra work but a seized valve in a tight guide
is much worse on the piston that may hit it.

[Perry]

Thanks for the replies once again. I will make sure my shop checks guide clearance. THe will have the valves out anyway when replacing the locks and retainers.

As far as the comment whether all this is necessay, I was referring to this line

"You definately need an angle job for good mating and flow." How definite is definitely?

Perry

[Chryco Psycho]

As far as the comment whether all this is necessay, I was referring to this line

"You definately need an angle job for good mating and flow." How definite is definitely?

Perry

The flow around the seat is critical , there is little room between the valve & seat & it is not open long so any turbulence will affect flow

[Perry]

Thanks again for all the advice. I am really trying to build this engine on a budget but I decided to put a little extra money here. Talked to my shop and they found that some of my exhaust guides were tight and needed to be reamed out. Also had a proper 3 angle job done on them. They decked them 3 mil to clean up the surface and flatten it out a bit. They also verified spring pressures and did some polishing and a little seat work.

So a little reading here really helped me from possible making some mistakes. Coming into this I thought they would be bolt on and go. I will find out on Monday what they charged me for the work so I am curious how cheap my 'budget' heads really are.

On a side note, my shop specializes in hi-po engines and pretty much recommends Edelbrock's for everything. This is the first time they had seen Stealth heads so I had to endure the standard 'nice Chinese boat anchor comments'. After working them the machinist told me he was really impressed. I would have been more impressed if they didn't need any work but at least the Chinese junk comments dried up.

Perry

[moparmaniac59]

I'm running Stealth heads on my stroker motor and they are a great buy and comparable with many other higher priced cylinder heads. You'll never regret putting your money in your heads. I had mine ported/polished & port matched. No complaints from me. Good luck with yours. You shouldn't be disappointed! 



                                                                       Matt B.

[jordan]

My engine builder was less than excited to work with these heads as these we the first stealth heads he saw.  After pushing them on him, he did the machining, replaced the valves, ported and matched.  When he finished, he said he was impressed with the quality of the aluminum.  He was even more impressed when the dyno results came in!

[PlumCraZRT]

My engine builder was less than excited to work with these heads as these we the first stealth heads he saw.  After pushing them on him, he did the machining, replaced the valves, ported and matched.  When he finished, he said he was impressed with the quality of the aluminum.  He was even more impressed when the dyno results came in!

My shop replaced all the hardware on my Stealth heads too.  I think they did a bowl blend and maybe a valve job.

[Moparal]

Don bought some cnc'd stealth heads for his 493 I built for him. They are making good power for a low cost street engine.  You can squeeze  700 hp out of them with a good combo