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From: Who says "Nothing is impossible" ? I've been doing nothing for years.
I would advise you guys to stay away from either of those heads. Ipersonally know two guys that bought the ProTopline heads and won't be buying another set.
As for the SuperFLow heads what's with the cheezy site that looks like it was set up in five minutes, I have seen much better ebay scam sites. Hmmm could it be the boys at hotrodsusa set up the site. It has no contact info or anything. I am just trying to help you guys so you don't get ripped off. The heads are no real deal anyway, could probably get a name brand set for the same price if you shopped around
From: Who says "Nothing is impossible" ? I've been doing nothing for years.
I honestly hope the heads you got are OK. $550 plus how much for the rest of the parts, you can get a set of Dart Pro 1 heads for $950. Are you going to set the heads up or take them to a machnist. ?
From: All humans are vermin in the eyes of Guru VA
Cruise-In IV Veteran
Cruise-In V Veteran
I havent decided. there is a speed shop in manasass and I was thinking about seeing how much to clean up the throats. Then send the heads up to swaintech in NY for ceramic coating of the chambers, exhaust ports, and valves. Along with whatever pistons I buy.
Superflowheads. Part number is stamped on them that matched what is advertised.
They are what you get when you order superflowheads from hotrodusa the only nationwide vendor in america, as I ordered them from hotrodusa.
Protopline is now RHS and a completely different animal and manufacturer.
Hey Guru-I wasn't suggesting that you don't know what you have. The header mounting area on the heads you show looks different from the Toplines I have and the pictures of the Superflowheads. Alot of different companies seem to be marketing these heads and calling them their own. When I get the 190cc Superflows in later this week(hopefully) I will do a side by side comparison to the 200cc Toplines I already have.
79VetteMike,
Good thread, plenty of good things are made in Australia: remember 1983, the America's Cup???
Corvette master cylinders, power boosters and calipers since 1983, Corvette torque tube and driveshafts since 1996, need I go on?
Where in Australia are these heads cast? If it's Melbourne or country Victoria, I could go shopping for a set myself and check out the foundry for you, if they would let me. Can't see that this would do them any harm, in fact, it might help sales for them.
It would also be interesting to see what price they sell them for in Australia, without the overseas freight and handling charges. Currently, the AU$1.00 is worth about US$0.73.
After a quick search here is a set I found fully assembled for less than 800 including shipping. Granted these aren't exactly what we were discussing, but when I bought mine I wasn't exactly looking for ProToplines either I was just looking.
In the pictures in this ad, they show two different heads....I wonder which set you would be getting? In the picture of the heads mounted on the motor, they show heads with the exhaust area that look like Guru's. In the other photos, they are a different head.
There are ProTopline heads in 180, 200, 220, 235 cc runners (23 degree version with other angles also). They are/were cast in New Zealand.
Then there are ProComp heads sold by an Australian firm but probably made in China. ProComp appears to basically have existing successful designs copied in China and sold at a lower price. Other items include dizzys, CDI multi spark units and copies of Holley electric pumps. Their 195cc heads list .185" higher intake ports and .150" higher exhaust ports.
Having worked in marketing chinese products years ago when there were more trade barriers and tarrifs, it was common for products (jeans for example) to be made 95% in China then have the inside leg sewn and lable attched in Australia and then it could be sold as Australian. Not sure if that happens now but I wouldn't be surprised.
The ProTopline heads are good quality and value (Ive got some on a 350) but I cant comment on the ProComp products.
79VetteMike,
Good thread, plenty of good things are made in Australia: remember 1983, the America's Cup???
Corvette master cylinders, power boosters and calipers since 1983, Corvette torque tube and driveshafts since 1996, need I go on?
Where in Australia are these heads cast? If it's Melbourne or country Victoria, I could go shopping for a set myself and check out the foundry for you, if they would let me. Can't see that this would do them any harm, in fact, it might help sales for them.
It would also be interesting to see what price they sell them for in Australia, without the overseas freight and handling charges. Currently, the AU$1.00 is worth about US$0.73.
Regards from Down Under
aussiejohn
Uness Austrailia has floated North to China these heads were never made in your country. The "Austrailian Story" is "spin" to prevent people from knowing the truth. Pro Action heads are made in New Zealand and I think you Aussies enjoy "free trade" with NZ so I would buy those heads for my Vette.
Uness Austrailia has floated North to China these heads were never made in your country. The "Austrailian Story" is "spin" to prevent people from knowing the truth. Pro Action heads are made in New Zealand and I think you Aussies enjoy "free trade" with NZ so I would buy those heads for my Vette.
This appears to be the correct story. We were given the SB heads a few months ago as a courtesy from a local warehouse to run tests on some units we were building. Along with the heads came the story of Australia, well it turns out to be not true. After much research on our own we find the heads ARE cast up in China. This doesn't take away from our original opinions of their performance. The heads are capable of producng the 450 HP (average) on our base 383" pump-gas strokers. We believe the warehouse didn't really know but was going on what they were told by the supplier. We aren't sure as of today, but suspect the "new" BB heads are from there also. We haven't tested them yet, but some issues we were aware of seem to have been corrected today.
A slightly smaller intake runner (320's?) and intake valve (2.250"). The first casting we looked at for the warehouse was rejected by us and the warehouse, it started as small intake runner (320 cc) but with a 2.300" valve. The "Professional-Products" line, this includes the intake manifolds and the "Pro-Street" (Powerforce & Powerforce+Plus)
dampers, used on most of the "World Products" lower priced units, are all from China. Likewise with the stud girdles part #12375(3/8) and #12437(7/16). Thanks, Gary in N.Y.
P.S. We did recently lose one of these dampers on the dyno, an "SFI" approved piece. We do our best to keep accurate info up here so you'll be able to sort through it for yourselves.
This appears to be the correct story. We were given the SB heads a few months ago as a courtesy from a local warehouse to run tests on some units we were building. Along with the heads came the story of Australia, well it turns out to be not true. After much research on our own we find the heads ARE cast up in China. This doesn't take away from our original opinions of their performance. The heads are capable of producng the 450 HP (average) on our base 383" pump-gas strokers. We believe the warehouse didn't really know but was going on what they were told by the supplier. We aren't sure as of today, but suspect the "new" BB heads are from there also. We haven't tested them yet, but some issues we were aware of seem to have been corrected today.
A slightly smaller intake runner (320's?) and intake valve (2.250"). The first casting we looked at for the warehouse was rejected by us and the warehouse, it started as small intake runner (320 cc) but with a 2.300" valve. The "Professional-Products" line, this includes the intake manifolds and the "Pro-Street" (Powerforce & Powerforce+Plus)
dampers, used on most of the "World Products" lower priced units, are all from China. Likewise with the stud girdles part #12375(3/8) and #12437(7/16). Thanks, Gary in N.Y.
P.S. We did recently lose one of these dampers on the dyno, an "SFI" approved piece. We do our best to keep accurate info up here so you'll be able to sort through it for yourselves.
So that makes my 1970 Monte Carlo a ricer with a Scat crank and Scat Rods, and Chinese heads. By the way, the new GM block I purchased was made in Mexico. I hope this doesn't mean that I have to add a rear "wing" and hydraulics.
Well, I talked to the guy at HotrodsUSA(they market the Superflowheads)and he says that they buy them off of a boat from AUSTRALIA. I told him that other people have said that they come from China, but he says he buys them directly from Australia. He says they are actually ProComp heads. Also says the tooling is the Pro Topline tooling. When I told him that Pro Topline was bought by Comp and is now marketed as RHS, he says that they basically use the same tooling.....How did you guys come to the idea that they are made in China? I am not saying that they aren't, but I'd just like to hear all sides.
Ok- I got my Superflow heads today and they look like the pics that Guru posted. They don't look like the pics in the Ebay auction, but I ain't sweating it. I will say that the casting looks pretty sloppy, but with some attention, I am willing to bet that they will lay down some good flow numbers. I'm a perfectionist, so i am sure I can get them to do well. The Pro Toplines are definately in a different league. Like I said, I will post pics later IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN SEEING THEM.
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