I was planning this same purchase as they are fairly local to me. For now best of luck and please post results of your installation.

 

As I mentioned, it will be probably be fine on a flat tappet street motor.

 

Direct from PEP's home page "We are a manufacturer and importer of American, Import, Heavy Duty and Hi-Performance cylinder head components for worldwide applications."

In addition to good real North American 21-4N valves from Manley etc ... there must've been tons of crappy 21-4N valves imported from asia ... I dunno, but suspect majority of what PEP might manufacture WITHIN North America is mostly paperwork. Believe this: a full set of stainless valves for sbc priced under $100 are not mfd in North America ... nor mfd near Las Vegas NV. I also doubt his has "the best steel available"; may be best for small $, but not THE best.

Also, I dunno, but seem to recall a fleabay id Gr8HotRods with a LB CA location who sold MANY MANY tach drive HEI dist on fleabay ... that's all I recall about him.

I don't have & don't want any procomp or similar heads;
prefer Brodix, Dart, GM castings or a Western European-mfd head if comparable in quality & price to North American-mfd. Make no mistake; so long as its quality is good, I do have a bias toward & preference for stuff manufactured by citizens of USA's fifty states.

This week, I bought a seat for a +40 year old MF farm tractor. I found ~ hundred + seats stocked at local farm supplyhouse ... NOT a single one from NA ... some Italy ... most Turkey; mine too. WTF!

Seems to me, someone having the skill to rework his own procomps might be better served to buy bare brodix/dart castings & assemble his own.

 

Pep does manufacture bronze valve guides. Don't list ANY supplier names. When you go to one of their links they tell you what that product does, (Example Valve springs close valves, the condensed version) not who the manufacturer is. Bare Brodx IK's are the same $.
I would beware of any company selling an admitted imported product that will not name the manufacturer. If it fails due to manufacturers defect, who will pay to repair the damage. Gr8hotrods will pass it off to PEP. Pep will blame the assembly or you abused their product. The manufacturer is in china and your in Norway with a product purchased in the states. GR8hotrods don't list a maufacturer of any component on the head, not even Procomp and when you asked for a manufacturer they give you the importers name. They don't care, their feedback at E-bay is probably already there in most cases. All you can do is minimize the chance of failure up front by buying from a known, reputable manufacturer and even then inspect closely.
You really want a set of these? Why?

 

It was because of the price. But I will also wait and save if necessary to get something better. I dont plan on getting on it too often or racing it. If they would just help boost up the HP a little and were good for general apps and handle medium duty service. After reading what I have so far, it doesnt look too good.

 

"Best steel available" to who ?

That's like saying these are the best heads available, ( because they are the only one's we sell ) The sentence doesn't even make any sense, think about it

 

Lucky you! Go and inspect the ProComps for your self. That is much better than being told off by self appointed experts, which never have had hands on these cylinder heads in their life. I suspect the ProComps to be OK for my use, possible for you as well....

Good luck to you as well!

Arne

 

That's probably close to the truth and is also how I see it too. Hopefully that's what it turns down to. Time will show when I receive the ProComps in five weeks or so. I will have a mildly modified 383cui for weekend AMCAR meetings in the sommer. No track or nitro abuses. I plan to do mild porting to bowl and i/e runners. No mods inside combustion chamber exept for equalizing sizes after liquid measure. I have new CompCams (US manufactured?) valve springs and roller rockers waiting to be installed. Honestly I think the so called "inferior" parts as push rod guides, valves, rocker studs and retainers will do fine for my modest requirements.
rgds
Arne

 

We all want the triple chrome and gold plated heads, unfortunately most of us don't have that budget. It takes serious cash to restore and maintain a US-car here in Europe. Local resellers ask at least double prices for parts. If I want to buy a set of brodix heads for my BB it will cost me here 3654 EURO, thats about 4700 USD. If I want to do the import my self it will cost me additional to s/h 12% import duty ans 19% Tax. Some USA reseller won't even ship overseas, or use the likes of fedex and UPS who charge extraordinary prices for s/h and insurance. So cheap is sometimes the only way to go.

If the guy asks for info, just give it to him or point him in the right direction. Don't crucify him because he didn't pick your favorite color.


Good luck with the heads.

A while ago one of the resellers was on CF and was open for comments and discussion of the product. Also turned into made here and buy there, but in between there is some good information.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...iot-heads.html

 

You asked for feedback on these particular heads. 2 people responded that have first hand knowledge about them. 1 guy blew his new motor up @ 5000 RPM first time down the track. 2nd Guy was a personal friend of a forum member and had to totally rebuild them before using. No positive experiences posted
This attitude is why you have rubbed some the wrong way. Some of the most respected members of the forum have tried to help you and given real good advice based on years of experience. This advice is pretty much unanimous against using them because they are obviously built with inferior parts. A lot of us have had catastrophic failures due to using inferior parts. Most of these "self proclamed experts" have 20 or 30 years experience building, modifying and racing Chevy small blocks. You have a 383 with 6" rods and are probably not going to drive this like a normal grocery getter all the time.
The weak link always breaks first and a valve head coming off from a tensile break (inferior manufacturing) @ 5000 RPM will destroy your engine, most times beyond repair. This is what happened to the only guy that posted that actually used these. Can you tell if a stainless steel valve is manufactured properly with the grade of stainless they say it is by looking? Some manufacturers state their valves are good for #400 open spring pressure max. Know why? I do. Not much safety margin there. Just think about it, the fastest moving parts on the entire engine are the valves. They snap open and slam closed 50 times a second @ 6000 rpm pounding into the seat @ #350 plus each time. Compare it to a jackhammer. The tolerances on locks, retainers and the groove in the valve holding them is critical as is the quality of the valve itself.
I know I am wasting my breath.

 

He has been given info and pointed in the right direction.

 

Can't wait to see the results of this build. Please, please post a youtube video of it running once you get it together.

 

 

Please my friends try to calm down, please......
I am getting a little tired of this and I am feeling that I am waisting my time on people that wants to take the p**s out of me. I simply ask for feedback from people that actually had bought these ProComp cylinder heads.
rgds
A.

 

I had these heads on my 383, forged internals/piston, comp cam XR288HR, victor jr intake with 750 Demon carb. Good price on engine due to cheap heads, was going to upgrade heads later. Car ran great till about 2000 miles, heard a pop while accelerating hard, lost power but still made it home. Pulled the heads and gasket blown between cylinders 4 an 6. Aluminum melted away on head between 4 and 6-see pics. Now did the blown head gasket caused this or Cheap casting on heads caused head gasket to blow? Car ran great prior to this. I did forget to re-torque heads after breaking engine in. Anyways,I got a set of Summit heads, same casting as Brodix IK200, for $850.

 

Good information, thank you! Are they ProComp210 (64cc)? Which gasket used and thickness please? I also would like to know the used head bolt torque... estimated static compression? Thank you in advance.
best regards
Arne

 

They were ProComp 190 64cc, don't know gasket/specs but here is the web site engine-HP383 http://www.mandrengines.com/store/

 

Thank you very much for your posting!

Arne

 

Sounds like a nice build! Weak link always breaks first on a performance build.
I don't think head gaskets caused your failure. Inferior machining did. Look at the drilled location of the water jacket port between cylinder 4 & 6. You can see where it should be and where it is. Both exhaust ports dump in the center on #4 and #6 so heat is more concentrated in the center than throughout the rest of the head and full coolant flow is the most critical here. Would bet the head warped causing the blown gasket due to inadequate coolant flow between cylinder 4 & 6 as a direct result of poor quality machining. Did you check the head with a straight edge for warpage? They don't retorque heads on new cars. Shouldn't be required with good gaskets and good fasteners that are correctly torqued to spec. But still a good idea.

OK, that is 2 people that actually used these heads and both had major failures due to a problem with the heads in 2000 miles or less. Both failures were while under acceleration when stresses are the highest. That is when a quality part works and an inferior part fails.

 

Water jacket port is only out by half an inch, what's half an inch, when you are machining everything to .001" ( crank, rods and other parts to .0001" ) specs ?