Speed Master Oldsmobile Aluminum Cylinder Head Review

[@gregbenwell6173]

BUT what are the valve sizes?????????? Oldsmobile used 2.07 inch Intake valves and exhaust was around 1.64 inch if I recall correctly!!! This meant Oldsmobiles had amazing flow!!!

[@gordocarbo]

He says the measurements. Intake is 2.07

[@quentinmartin4834]

He also measures the exhaust at 1.68

[@johnplato4976]

Even for a bored and or stroked 455, a 2.07 int. & 1.625 is not enough for serious power production. Considering Pontiac Ram Air valve sizes 2.11/ 1.77 could out flow the Olds BB head dept.

[@brysonp.473]

​@@johnplato4976 Guys going after serious power production don't buy $1200 speedmaster heads. They spend serious money for the good stuff from places like mondello or rocket racing where you can get bigger valves and huge ports. These are just a somewhat decent set of street heads

[@larrycraven7787]

@@johnplato4976 Oldsmobile has probably the worse flowing cylinder heads of any BB from any maker!

[@williamstamper442]

I regret selling one of 2 sets of Edelbrock Olds heads a few years ago...but money was so tight i kinda didn't have a choice. I bought 2 sets of first run Edelbrock heads when they were first introduced. Got a deal commiting to 2 sets early on and things were different then and i wasn't sorry. One set got cut and ported the other remained box stock. They performed very well. Ive always thought these Speedmasters are a direct copy of the Edelbrock thanks to china. I don't think anybody would argue with me on that subject. Being on disability money is tighter than ever. When the time comes and i save my pennies and sell some parts i do believe im gonna try a set of these. For the price i do believe they will work out just fine. If you want compression i learned that a .060 cut off the deck will get you near 66cc chamber. If you go this route have the machine shop chop off 0.100 off the intake face, just make sure they step the cut and not go into the valve cover flange. The ratio is 1:6 when cutting the deck to intake face. Doing this will allow you to run any virgin un-cut intake manifold, which is nice. Makes me remember a deal years ago, somewhere in the mid 1980s at a car show this feller had a mint set of cast iron F heads but they were cut i believe .050 and he had the factory aluminum w-30 intake cut appropriately to fit. He wanted $550 for all which was alot of money back then but still was in the ballpark for what they were. In my young mind i could not accept the cut intake manifold and knowing any other intake would have to be cut too so i passed on the deal. To this day i still wish i would have went ahead and did it but thats the classic coulda shoulda woulda story. Anyway getting back to what we're talking about, the 1:6 cut on the intake face is a no brainer and a given if you like to play with Olds engines and if you love high compression. Each point in static compression is about a 4% change in hp output over its operable range up to 6000rpm we will say. A true 12:1 engine will make about 50+ hp over a 9:1 engine with no other changes, in the 500hp range. So you can be first on your block with a 550hp Olds while everyone else is fiddling around with 490-510hp and they will want to know your secret. I can tell you right now a 575hp Olds 455 with basic parts like everyone else uses will push a 3713# 442 into low 11s @ 119+ so yeah, there is that. I enjoyed this laid back review of these cylinder heads. Makes me want my health back and run outside and go build another bullet engine just to throw into something and go have fun!

[@vanguardhotrodshop8633]

Hi, thanks for the great feedback. I'll have to keep that 1:6 cut in my box of tricks. Another thing I have found is that bumping up the compression also helps the idle quality quite a bit.

[@elainestamper3873]

Very good video! Would be better if you loose the music

[@Rustyrider-og4pf]

Just wondering what is the compression ratio compared to stock heads?

[@masonite1973]

Drunk shopping strikes again lol ;)

[@bennoakes2477]

to suit Culatas.......enough said, just crap. It's an alloy casting, at what point is a helicoiled thread not expected?

[@johnnyz1781]

Huh? Helicoil is going to be stronger than aluminum threads, that's why they used it on the high areas with high load. They cheaped out by NOT adding them for the accesory mounts.

[@jackwillson8099]

0.006 valve rock lol that junk 0.0013 too 0.0015 max valve guide ,thats a smoker for sure

[@stevenbelue5496]

But he checked them at 0.600" off the seat which imo would not give an actual indication for clearance in the guide.

[@jackwillson8099]

@@stevenbelue5496 you Don't work in heads with a statement like that?

[@stevenbelue5496]

@@jackwillson8099 I thought the same about your statement. I dont know how you check your guide clearances but i certainly dont check mine with a dial guage and the valve six hundred thou off the seat. I mic my stems and dial bore gauge my guides or use small bore gauges or what i call ball gauges/mic's. Telescoping. The difference would be an accurate measurement for clearance. Measuring with the valve a certain amount off the seat the shorter the guide the more clearance it would yield. Ive often pulled the valve out and gave it a shake just for a reference to see what condition the guides were in but never to measure accurate clearance.

[@jackwillson8099]

@@stevenbelue5496 I use sunnen Dial bore gage & nogo gage pins been ,work for me, 35 years with no comebacks

[@stevenbelue5496]

​@@jackwillson8099another reason you shouldnt check clearance with the method shown here is because you wouldnt know where the guides were worn. You really need to check the guides near the top, middle and at the bottom and i prefer to measure the diameter at 3 different points but atleast 2 points 180° from each other with one being on the load side. You really would not want to check a setup that had been previously ran the way it was checked in this video. Its not much of a concern with a new valve/guide/seat that hasnt been run. But checking the way in this video on the non-thrust sides of the guide would not show the wear from a rocker/tip that was pushing and pulling or side loading the stem into the guide.