The V8 Owners Forum -

hiya all,

So real steels merlins heads have a 6 months waiting list.....

So where to go next?

Dont really want to wait till next year to get my engine together....so who makes the next best stage 3 heads?.

Anyone care to comment.

cheers

scott

Wildcat

I was under the impression that Wildcat heads were better than Merlin heads, but at considerably higher cost.

TVR 5 litre heads aren't too bad. I've known them make good power and torque. Mine is currently at 315/350 and when I get it back together after the latest things I hope it's more like 340/370.

What are your desires for power?

1964 Buick 300. The old stand by...

Greg

I had my heads done to stage III by V8 Dev. The workmanship that you could see looked very good.

About one year later I decided to build a 4.6 lump, the heads needed a total strip down so that they could be skimmed to get the CR right. I must say that the workmanship directly behind the valves was not that great, there was a dirty great step where the inserts meet the aluminum of the head. The steps were mainly in the inserts, it took quite a few tungsten burrs to sort it all out.

I did get a bit of a discount off V8 Dev when I first had the heads done for reasons that I won't go into but all the same I was mildy piddled off when I pulled the valves out. (I never got a V8Dev number stamped on them either!....they forgot to do it )

I would say that they have been very helpful when I've phoned up about other stuff, I'd still be happy to deal with them.

Pete

Scott,

What capacity engine and what is the intended use, as this will determine what you really need?

Kevin.

hiya all,

I'm rebuilding a 4.6 GEMS efi for use in my westfield.

There's a few stage 3 heads about but all slightly different specs.

Like the look and the output of the real steel merlin heads but with a six month waiting list i think i need to look elsewhere.

Next on my list are the ones at V8 tuner at just over 1k.

I am not looking for all the power obtainable , just a decent return for the money i spend.

thanks for the help.

scott

Scott,

The important point is what are you going to use the car for, mainly road use or mainly track day?

The other important factor is what cam you have in mind as any upgrade in cam will have an effect on the standard efi and it will run very poorly unless you have the ECU re-chipped and on the Gems system you need two chips which are about £800 from Mark Adams or RPI (same product) or you will need to convert to Megasqirt, Gems or an Emerald ECU and map it to the engine.

If it's for road use you will probably regret going for too hot a cam but bing a light car you can get away with a hotter cam than if the engine was in a heavy saloon or a Range Rover.

One of the best cylinder head men in the uk is Peter Burgess and a pair of his stage one heads and a well matched cam will reap dividends on a 4.6 engine and still retain good drivability, without sacrificing much bottom end torque with a 4.6 you could upgrade to a set of big valves 1.63" Inlet 1.4".and should put you in the 270+BHP ballpark with lots of lovely torque.

Torque through the rev range is what makes for a quick car so don't be misled by the BHP figures quoted for an engine peaking at 6500RPM

A good cam for your engine would probably be a Crower 50322 available at a discounted price from Paul at V8 Tuner mine cost £135.00 this peaks at 5500 but will rev to 6500 if you need to.

Kevin.

Seight-V8 wrote:hiya all,

So real steels merlins heads have a 6 months waiting list.....

So where to go next?

Dont really want to wait till next year to get my engine together....so who makes the next best stage 3 heads?.

Anyone care to comment.

cheers

scott

Why go to stage 3 when you can go to stage 4 ultimate big valve heads ?

I forgot to say that i am selling some stage 4, Also have some group A rocker gear for sale as i am selling my whole 5ltr engine and its hardly done 1k miles.. Dont know if you are interested but thought i would mention it. Advertised in the for sale section.

stg4's mmmm thats what i would like,
wonder how much i can get for my stg3's

Some photos of them. Sorry for them not been very clear. They are cleaner than this, They have had dust on them from a machine shop.

Hi, have a talk to Dave Ellis , I have used him on developed heads for years better spec than most for the same money. He has taylored my stuff to suit me car and wallet! :, with the data to back up on rover castings atleast you will deal direct with the guy doin the job not 3rd or 4th hand in a chain .

My vote goes to Buick 300 heads. They can be made to flow more than any Rover heads and can be fitted with 1.75 inlets and 1.5 exhausts. Will support 400+ hp without too much work. Poor man's Wildcats.

HI , roger that rob, we went with b300 on a voyage of discovery, sure they will do the bhp, to be fair the flow figs are better than wilcat, but you go backwards to go forwards . Our major isue was cumbustion chamber vol and static C/R. DB

Ive had some Merlin heads on order from real Steel since March.
Phoned them yesterday and found out I was 7th on the list.
Apparently they are installing a new CNC machine which will speed up production.

Mark