anyone ever use/ heard of or familiar with this sped master brand engine parts i saw on jegs today? they have an upper end kit for pretty cheap. just wondering if its total junk. claims it's an american company that started out as a small engine builder shop.

 

Speedmaster is formerly Pro Comp.
They're all chinese parts sold by an American company. I've used a lot of their stuff with great success, but there are also things of theirs I got that were unusable, and things I would never try.

 

kind of what i suspected.. thanks.. buy the good stuff or save your money until you can buy the good stuff. right? no china made crap going on my vette. period, i dont care how much of a deal it sounds like. drop a valve cause of some china brand junk head and wreck a perfectly good engine.. screw that

 

 

I've used their heads before with zero issues. They made great power, too. I bought their 4.030" SBC forged pistons with a 1.250 compression height and they were unusable. Ive also had their rockers break trying to use them on springs with a lot of pressure.

Their rods seem to be excellent as well.

 

Better be careful of AC Delco then

 

I'm careful checking the C.O.O. of EVERY part I put on all of my cars before I buy. Always.

 

Yep the options are get fewer and fewer though. Not as bad with performance parts but genuine GM parts come from China or Mexico more often than not these days.

 

Great slogan. I tried Trick Flow when their Twisted Wedge L98 heads came out. Made in USA. Must be good. Why pay Lingenfelter for his heads when these flow a little less but are definitely cheaper. I was having a 560 lift so better get the stronger head package they recommended. Fast forward. Had a couple good years to enjoy the cheap TFS heads on a LPE Short block without the LPE head price, I might add.

Had a noise, shut down and checked. A spring broke off #4. Replaced it and seems to be good. Remember, feels good doesn't mean it is right. Took the intake off a bit later to seal it. Decided to check the heads since I was there and the car was in shop class for a project. Pulled the heads and saw the carnage in #4. Seems the valve had hit the piston and broke off a chunk that bounced around and scarred up the head and cylinder. Pull the engine and see what the damage was.

Took the heads off to see if it could be fixed. Got a call from the machine shop about a problem. Well, seems like the head that was on #4 had all wobbly valves. The other head was fine. So we now have 8 valves that rattled around once the spring was removed. Decided to patch it up and sell it and get the AFR heads. One new rebuilt short block later and the car was running again. Not sure what we did with the 1st expensive LPE short block but at least we had the cheap price of the TFS heads.

Moral of the story? I don't believe where it was made matters as much as the QC. If it is cheap (relatively), I can't afford it.

 

Couldn’t agree more. Quality control is the difference. We always had a phrase at work “We can’t afford the cheapest!”.