I am sure many of you are wondering what the deal is on these low cost heads. Well, I will try to give you my impressions.

The heads are an off shore head private labeled as a StrikeForce head by PBM which is the performance division of Engine Parts Warehouse. I have been selling SBC and SBF heads by the same manufacturer for five years now with no problems (knock on wood). I have also had these BBC heads available to me.  I had them available for almost a year but was reluctant to sell them. A year ago I put a set together and put them on the shops blown 70 SS Chevelle. It has a mild .644 lift solid roller cam with 220lbs of closed seat pressure. The car makes just over 500RWHP on our chassis dyno at 2 pound boost and has proven reliable.

With that said I have been selling these heads for three years now but would like to explain the following issues:

The intake ports on the heads are not truly a standard rectangular port. They are like a 3/4 height rectangular port. There is enough material to port them out and gasket match the intake to a 1275 Felpro gasket if desired but as cast they do not match on the top edge of the runner. I have pictures posted to show this mismatch, please follow above link. My explanation for this is that the way in which the port is configured actually allows you to use just about any style BBC intake manifold, wether it be oval of rectangular. The heads flow good as cast and I put the shops Chevelle together with the mismatch.  I will portmatch the heads to a 1275 Felpro rectangular port gasket for an additional $80.00USD

The combustion chamber is unshrouded around the exhaust port fairly well. While this may yield better flow figures it also requires the use of a head gasket designed for a 4.625 bore motor. While you can use the heads on any bore big block, ours was a .030 over 454, you must use a gasket for the larger bore to place the compression ring outside the combustion chamber to achieve proper sealing.  I use a Felpo 1057 with no problems at all. 

The screw in studs for the intake valves are like early GM aluminum heads and do not seem to have a lot of thread engagement on the side of the intake runner where they come through the top of the head and go into the actual runner itself. While the screw in stud boss for the exhaust valve is reenforced very well, I am still a little leery of extreme spring seat pressures (230 and above) on the intake without the use of a stud girdle. Early GM heads suffered from the same problem.  I have run the shops blown Chevelle for over a year now with 220lbs of seat pressure and no girdle with no problems,  

All that being said they are great value for the money. I see them as an excellent low cost upgrade to an aluminum head or replacement for that cracked 088 or 990 cast iron head.

Please also remember you will also need head bolts or studs designed for aluminum heads.  I recommend ARP 235-4303 studs with 12 point nuts.  As always you will also need to check rocker arm geometry and order the correct length pushrods based on the components you use.  Thank you for the time, I hope this helps, Keith.

Top end kits are also available in my Ebay store.