Edelbrock Heads

[Taylorman]

I would like to know if anyone has any experience with Edelbrock aluminum heads vs. factory head in a 455 Olds. My stock 455 is turning about 4600 rpm's in a Taylor SJ. I am thinking about getting a pair of Edelbrocks or having my Olds 'J' heads ported. Let me know your opinions. Thanks.

[oldphart]

I had one of the first sets of Edelbrock heads in production so many of my observations may not still be true. Here goes,
First know up front that the swap requires aftermarket Head bolts,Longer hardened push rods, Special roller rockers and deeper valve covers.The exhaust bolt holes are not helicoiled and feel very shakey. also check the intake ports VERRY carefully. mine had water passages drilled into the intake ports on the four corners. After sorting out all that shit my Tahiti that ran 46 MPH before, now ran 69.6mph with the addition of the heads, a diverter, loading grate,added a Mondello jet cam and replaced the flywheel with a flex plate. It was like a totally different boat. I doubt that they could be duplicated with ported stock heads as the Edelbrock heads actually have rather small ports. If they got their crap together and you know the true cost up front I would say go for it. but plan on spending over 2K

[Oldsquirt]

Taylorman, you might want to post this on the RJB board. One of the guys who reads that board has an 18' Kona with those heads and a tunnel ram. GPS'd at about 75mph a couple weeks back during our get together at Tower Park. His name is Tim. http://disc.server.com/Indices/152642.html

[SuckMyWake]

Taylorman,
I've heard many good things about the Edelbrock heads. I may switch to them also. How fast are you running at 4600 RPM with your SJ? Do you have an "A" impeller?
I have a '76 Taylor SJ / 455 / 12JC / B impeller. I'm running 60.1 MPH GPS with bone stock heads at 5100 RPM.
-Todd

[Taylorman]

I also have a 76 Taylor SJ with a 12JE pump and an A impeller. It runs about 56 mph at 4600 rpms. Motor is stock with an unidentified ISKY cam, Offy tunnel ram, stock 'J' heads, single Edelbrock 750 carb (soon to be dual 500's), log manifold (in the process of running water lines and installing Bassets). I would love to see about 5200 rpms on my tach. Any suggestions would be great.

[SuckMyWake]

Taylorman,
Your boat sounds pretty similar to mine in power output. I run an Edelbrock Torker with 650 DP with stock "J" heads and log exhaust. The cam is also unidentified, but it has a nice lopey idle. With your tunnel ram and bassetts, you'l benefit a bunch by switching to a "B" impeller. With the bassets and the T ram you should get 5200-5300 RPM and probably around 65 MPH. Make sure you have the oil restrictors from Mondello or a big oil pan so you don't starve the engine at the higher RPM's.
-Todd

[triple x tx]

i have had a set of edelbrock heads on a bbc they really weak valve guides (grenaded my baby) same thing happened to my dad on his drag car i would recommend a set of brodix 2x heads a little more exspensive but cheaper than rebuilding a motor plus brodys are "throw down billy joe bad ass"!!!just my 3 cents