I've always loved CNC and when I left the military I had the chance to retrain and worked 20 years in a shop running nothing but armament and aerospace components. I can honestly say that even running a dozen VMC's on a 12hr night shift, I never once hated going in to work. Even spending 1000s of hours at a manual mill is the best job in the word for me! And knowing that every British nuclear sub and every US F35 has parts I made on them gives me a real sense of pride.
Air Flow Research was founded by a guy named Warren Brownfield, who sold it to a one time customer, Ken Sperling. Warren went on to found another company, Brownfield Cylinder Head, which he later (~20yrs) also sold to Ken. The Brownfield Chevrolet head (which was released in 1972) became the AFR SBC head. Prior to this, AFR was solely a porting and engine building company. Brownfield (and later AFR) cast the SBC, in house, from 1972-2005.
When you commented about superbowl tickets, your passion is real. I first became interested in Lee Sheppard because he would heliarc the hell out of those heads he reworked. Keep the fire going bruh!!!
I'm really glad I found your channel. Very informative and thorough information, things that even after all my years around engines I just hadn't ever learned about. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge!
Awesome! Not only was this great! But the timing is epic. I am stuck home alone. Totally bored. Had nothing going on. Then right on time this video as promised landed on youtube. Was very enjoyable and informative. Amazing fascillity. Can't wait to watch the video with the tour of scat.
Hoping some of the SB Fords heads there are for us. We have been waiting for over four months for two pair for two complete engine builds. Thank you for the updates.
Back 18 years ago when I first started seeing Chinese copies of Edelbrock intakes for substantially less plus other components I refused to buy a product that some company stole the R and D then reproduced the product .
Bravo! And I surely hope you are not typing this from your AMD chip powered PC. Because they did the exact same thing to Intel 30 years ago. That's how they got started. Actually lost the lawsuit Intel brought against them for it. But they made enough money to start doing their own R&D. I'm sure the list goes on and on for similar scenario companies.
I have had AFR 335 on my turbo 555 BBC for ten years they make big power and I love them , last refresh I had some hand porting and custom setup vs bolting on like I did the first time . Thanks Eric for the in-depth vids you do sharing your knowledge.
Great information. Good for people to understand what goes into making a complex product. Typically takes collaboration across companies and countries. Looking forward to the SCAT video. Thanks Eric.
Really great story about R&D and manufacturing at AFR! With the use of CFD and CAD for design, it’s a wonder that you can make improvements to the products AFR comes up with, but obviously you do. I’m not the only one, I’m sure, who’d like to see the back-to-back dyno results! So much is going on in the dynamics of a running engine that isn’t captured in a steady state flow bench… Thanks for a great report! Let’s crowd fund that dyno!
Thanks for putting this together Eric! Not everybody can travel to go see these great American companies. I now have a lot more respect for AFR's heads, they are definitely worth it. I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised with the BBC 265. Richard Holdener did a dyno test on a 496 BBC with these heads and a tunnel ram, if I remember correctly. They blew the larger heads away throughout the powerband. Looking forward to seeing the other manufacturers you visited. You do great work and it is appreciated!
AFR should move to a business friendly state like the Carolinas, Tenn, or GA. The money they would save on energy, taxes and less burdensome regulations would offset the cost of a foundry and heat treatment facility. In addition they could diversify and make parts for Boeing or one of the auto plants in the South East or even an ATV plant.
I bought a set of the BBC V2 335 Magnums. AFR was very helpful in helping me upgrade for boost. Heavier springs, better retainers and very happy with customer service.I am a AFR customer for life.
I guessed right on the casting made overseas. I figure the reason I had is wrong, but made me feel better. I was surprised to see the casting quality and design differences. Also I did not know each state had different % numbers on the Made in USA claim.
Don’t feel bad! I would rather go see how people build parts, than go to any Super Bowl! 🤣🤣🤣🤣! It also sucks that you went to AFR first, because if you ever get invited to that B company that sent you garbage 🗑! You will see exactly why, I was there probably 25 years ago, it seemed like most of the workers were not happy & the place seemed like a dungeon 🙄🙄🙄🙄! I know they put out some good products! Hopefully it’s changed, going back to AFR it seems like they have an amazing shop! Plus there warranty is all you need to know! I’m really glad to see that they are using Epocs for there valve jobs! I was after my boss about that along time ago, he thought he had the best valve job outside of the absolute top tear racing-builders, his was better than most, & he spent tons of time on every one, when his circle track head got set on a small EPOC, not the 120 thousand dollar one, I believe they have a 60 thousand dollar machine, it went in & recut his valve job completely, in like 15 minutes & the head picked up a minimum of 10 cfm! Now you know how hard that is on a cast iron circle track head that your not allowed to port 🙄🙄🙄🙄😜😜😜😜! Other than going to Matt’s place, or Edelbrock, well what they used to have, I think 🧐 your going to be let down by just about anywhere else 😂😂😂😂! I’m guessing they are not in talks with getting back going with Edelbrock? Although Buddy Bar makes top quality castings! It’s really sad to see that companies put tons of money 💰 in R&D, than some asshole buys it & has it knocked off in china! I really think we need some new kinds of patents!!! What was also sad to see, that china AFR, really looks nicer in casting quality! I’m hoping that AFR checks the material quality often! Because over the years, we’ve seen stuff that comes from overseas, that started out great! But within a very short time, we were having parts breakage, that we never had previously! Not just us either, lots of builders 🙄🙄🙄🙄! Great video! Its great to have people who actually remember what telling the truth is! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Always remember that volumetric efficiency is always the key to efficiency to power and performance. The cylinder head is a strong part of the statement.
That thing with the tooling makes sense - standard procedure When you want something made, you often have the option of paying a flat fee for the tooling, or just buying the parts (usually a significant quantity) and letting the manufacturer provide the tooling In the first instance, YOU own the tooling, and it (at least in theory) cannot be used to make anything for anyone else In the second instance, the manufacturer owns the tooling, and can use their own tools to make parts for anyone You see why people usually opt for option A...
Building a street stroker SBF ... Researching and researching head data always leads me back to AFR. They really are a great company. Having worked in engineering in the past and sourcing materials in China, there were two stages: 1- inexpensive substandard crap 2- market price quality stuff Take your pick. The factories will make whichever you prefer. Bankers manipulating currencies is the reason the Chinese can make the same Western product for ”less”. Do you think Chinese workers are paid so little they live under bridges and have holes in the soles of their shoes? Think boat rides across the ocean are free?
As cool as it is to make quality, fun product, the job of loading castings on to a pallet, in a CNC, or even assembling the final product, gets monotonous fast. It's the love of the job, the people around you, and the spirit of the company that makes those jobs careers rather than just paycheques.
It is a bit of overwhelming in the AFR factory. We only do 1 set of heads at a time. They are digital and we are analog. I live and die by PAC springs.
Eric thanks for your videos and all the flow numbers and info you provide I was wondering who the two companies are that are selling the afr designed Chinese casted heads?
That was an exciting video. I have bought some Chinese cylinder heads , Chevy , Ford and big Mopar. All of them were great castings. China will sell you anything and any quality . And don't care were the design comes from
I want to know the name of the person that designed the AFR BBC Roval port heads and the BBF Bullitt heads. I want to put him on my Christmas Card list...love those heads.
Interesting!!! I had a question while watching this & then you said they have a problem with the small ford head & now I'm really intrigued to what that is???? Spacificly with the small ford head???? Anyway, as a porter, do you have a preferred thickness as in a measurement how thin you can make the metal in any certain area of a port? I know you can't measure, unless of course you break through. But to have a educated guess when removing material you don't want paper thin im guessing if you can help it. Is the a rule of thumb of a thickness???
I've been looking myself and I've settled on the afr bullit heads but they are in the process of moving the casting of those heads from the edelbrock found to the buddy bar foundry... Not sure where they are in the process but it'll be worth the wait!!
Hi there from Australia, lots of great info & interesting... that chinese head looked like a quality piece of casting... as a side note, you mentioned Dart heads. have a set of Dart 2 heads for SBC. what is good or bad about them, & what can be improved pls??? Thanks..
Hi Eric, I too would like your review on any Dart heads. Just received a pair of SHP 180/64 , through Jegs. Only had to wait 2 weeks. Maybe because they're not as desirable? Should be fine on .my street 383.
Good information I just got my set of afr 195 cnc port street sbc heads I'm a little disappointed after doing so much research. Right out of the box I see aluminum flakes and thin slices hanging in the top of the intake ports where they are cut into the rocker stud holes leaving ugly holes in the port I know the junk hanging isn't normal is cutting into the stud hole normal thanks for a reply debating if I need to send them back
For those who didn't know, Aeroflow sells a 23° 213cc CNC ported head that looks and flows awfully alot like the AFR Small Block Chevy heads. Only they're about a quarter to a third of the price of AFR.
The pumping action and variations in engine speed can’t be replicated on a flow bench. Not to mention the complex vortices, tumble and turbulence that happens during the combustion cycle which isn’t part of flow bench testing at all.
It's great that the cash infusion came from one car enthusiast company to another. Tikka is a gun company in Finland. Beretta made a huge investment in them, but they left most of the control to the original guys. Most of their investment was to buy the factory upgraded manufacturing equipment. If the giant investment firm that bought Remington and Marlin acted that way, maybe things would have worked well. 10:33 I just wish they went somewhere better than mainland China if they couldn't find a place in the USA. I think Enginequest or Pro Topline went to New Zeland. 17:02 Sounds like it could also be used to determine if a batch is defective. 19:39 Here is the company and some of their machines in action: ua-cam.com/users/NewenIncvideos 22:43 I like seeing the PAC springs. Too many heads come with unknown parts. 39:51 It pained my grandfather to see that my dad's '71 Toyota Corolla wasn't awful. I just hate the CCP with a passion.
CNC machine is pretty much a money printing machine if you can afford to intially buy one. The money they've been charging for all these years, they could have bought a foundry to cast their own heads.
@@WeingartnerRacing I'm looking to build a 421 SBC to make 700hp n/a like the one you previously did .. I'm just wondering what my most economic option is
@@shoominati23 I had one on my dyno last week that made 712 horsepower. It had a set of AFR heads. The place he bought it from said that it made 770 which I thought was probably unrealistic. To me it seemed to not be cammed correctly and was only in the 560's for peak torque.
They are Using Haas machines, not Mazak. Haas and Mazak’s are brands of machines. Not types of cnc machines. But fascinating none the less. I love your content.
Owner probably sold the company cause he seen the writing on the wall with all the epa shit and fines to retailers, I’m sure he figured let me cash out while I can. I personally love afr heads had 227 then 227 eliminators and then 235 eliminators. I hope they come count with a raised runner head or a bigger head then the 245cc heads. I’m hard pressed to spend money on shaft rockers for a 23 degree head when a 18 or 15 head isn’t that much more money.
About the whole "Chinese" argument. When stuff is being cast they will test the quality of the metal to make sure it's up to spec... the same spec the California foundry is running off of. The old "Chinese pot metal" comes in when you pay 56.99 for heads not 800 dollar heads.
My worry is the aluminum billets quality they melt down and casting core and how they do it.. If the aluminum is a top quality aluminum billet virgin alloy and it's cast is done top notch, then yeah. I am cool with whatever. I wonder what a perfect cast copy of the 195cc competition head that has a sand roll smoother took to it would flow?!? I mean if it's cheaper and flows the same..... $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sign me up for a pair, that would bring cost down to a reasonable level because im not paying over 2500 for a set of heads, i don't care how much better they supposedly flow.
It was my understanding there were issues mostly with the China valve seats not staying put in years past. Over the years I have seen a few that appeared to be the issue and had been told it was caused by the casting. If these AFR China heads are doing so good passing the tests, does AFR have a specification on the make up of the aluminum to make it a better material for head use? Or was all the China bad stories hogwash? Maybe it was user error or cheap parts? Just trying to get a understanding of the whole China heads are horrible but now that AFR is using them China is not bad now. 🤷🏼♂️
It’s not like that. China will make whatever quality you want to pay for. The afr casting is much better quality than a speed master/ procomp. Both made China but not same quality standards. To my knowledge afr is not using Chinese seats. I know they are machining and installing the seats in America except on the enforcer heads.
@@WeingartnerRacing So what your saying is if you took a speed master/ procomp head and removed all the seats and replaced with quality seats these heads would still have failures from the seats coming out because the aluminum these heads use is different / inferior?
Interesting. That might explain why if rebuilt correctly, you might not get valve seal fall out with a properly rebuilt 5.7 Hemi. At least the aluminum and casting was good enough, even if the OEM seats weren't.
Either that, or they get sold to some mega investment firm who has no clue about what customers like. When Remington and Marlin got sold to some giant firm, they decided they knew better than gunsmiths, and valued cheap production over quality. They made trash.
Need to break out the “assembery in America” tags again lol what a world we live in. Just educate yourself and buy the best you can. Be thankful we have sources to research
The Chinese can make a fine part, if you are willing to pay for the quality control they are capable of producing just as good a part as Edelbrock. If you want junk they can produce that too. Blame corporate American greed, and an uninformed cheap consumer for the influx of cheap inferior Chinese parts. Sad but true.
Sometimes making things became impossible in the USA because the EPA and OSHA became impossible to work with. Other times the local agency made it hard. Sure, we need laborer and environmental safety. However, we don't need bloated micromanaging government agencies. Unfortunately, it resulted in sending business to where laborers and the environment are completely disposable. This is why if I need or want foreign goods, I'll buy them where there is environmental and laborer safety and the laws are enforced. I'm sure no matter how many car guys are only into American cars, many will have some German made Knipex tools in their box. Amazon is overtaking Wal of China Mart, but they aren't exactly changing the game for Chinese junk.
Instead of bitching about a casting shortage why can't they start making them get the other head companies together and make castings I understand they did what they had to buy move forward
You don't have to live in California, just enjoy the 234bn they pay in taxes to the Fed, it keeps the US afloat. Don't move to Florida though, they had the highest increase in fed taxes at 41.8% that must sting. Funny how things can look different from another angle.
I've always loved CNC and when I left the military I had the chance to retrain and worked 20 years in a shop running nothing but armament and aerospace components. I can honestly say that even running a dozen VMC's on a 12hr night shift, I never once hated going in to work. Even spending 1000s of hours at a manual mill is the best job in the word for me! And knowing that every British nuclear sub and every US F35 has parts I made on them gives me a real sense of pride.
Air Flow Research was founded by a guy named Warren Brownfield, who sold it to a one time customer, Ken Sperling. Warren went on to found another company, Brownfield Cylinder Head, which he later (~20yrs) also sold to Ken. The Brownfield Chevrolet head (which was released in 1972) became the AFR SBC head. Prior to this, AFR was solely a porting and engine building company. Brownfield (and later AFR) cast the SBC, in house, from 1972-2005.
Warren Brownfield, the original AFR .
Had a set of those old Brownfield’s. May still be out in my buddy’s shop. I don’t think he ever sold them. They worked good
When you commented about superbowl tickets, your passion is real. I first became interested in Lee Sheppard because he would heliarc the hell out of those heads he reworked. Keep the fire going bruh!!!
YOU ARE A SMART GUY ERIC. PRECIATE YOUR HONESTY.
I'd love to see a tour of Brodix
I'm really glad I found your channel. Very informative and thorough information, things that even after all my years around engines I just hadn't ever learned about. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge!
Good to know that AFR is such an open and honest company. Makes my investment in their heads that much better.
AFR makes a great cylinder head for the average gear head.
Awesome!
Not only was this great!
But the timing is epic. I am stuck home alone. Totally bored. Had nothing going on. Then right on time this video as promised landed on youtube. Was very enjoyable and informative.
Amazing fascillity.
Can't wait to watch the video with the tour of scat.
Hoping some of the SB Fords heads there are for us. We have been waiting for over four months for two pair for two complete engine builds. Thank you for the updates.
As a former manufacturing engineer in the American automotive industry, thank you! Job well done.
Back 18 years ago when I first started seeing Chinese copies of Edelbrock intakes for substantially less plus other components I refused to buy a product that some company stole the R and D then reproduced the product .
Bravo! And I surely hope you are not typing this from your AMD chip powered PC. Because they did the exact same thing to Intel 30 years ago. That's how they got started. Actually lost the lawsuit Intel brought against them for it. But they made enough money to start doing their own R&D. I'm sure the list goes on and on for similar scenario companies.
I have had AFR 335 on my turbo 555 BBC for ten years they make big power and I love them , last refresh I had some hand porting and custom setup vs bolting on like I did the first time . Thanks Eric for the in-depth vids you do sharing your knowledge.
Great information. Good for people to understand what goes into making a complex product. Typically takes collaboration across companies and countries. Looking forward to the SCAT video. Thanks Eric.
Really great story about R&D and manufacturing at AFR! With the use of CFD and CAD for design, it’s a wonder that you can make improvements to the products AFR comes up with, but obviously you do. I’m not the only one, I’m sure, who’d like to see the back-to-back dyno results! So much is going on in the dynamics of a running engine that isn’t captured in a steady state flow bench… Thanks for a great report! Let’s crowd fund that dyno!
I once got a tour of the old location it was really small. On Ilex street in Pacoima. Huge difference
Thank you for another great video, your honest input and assessment. It certainly helps with understanding how complex the industry is.
AFR build us some 4.3 Vortec performance cylinder heads! Keep the price affordable and you’ll sell a bunch of them!
Thanks for putting this together Eric! Not everybody can travel to go see these great American companies. I now have a lot more respect for AFR's heads, they are definitely worth it. I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised with the BBC 265. Richard Holdener did a dyno test on a 496 BBC with these heads and a tunnel ram, if I remember correctly. They blew the larger heads away throughout the powerband. Looking forward to seeing the other manufacturers you visited. You do great work and it is appreciated!
These factory videos are great! Thanks
AFR should move to a business friendly state like the Carolinas, Tenn, or GA. The money they would save on energy, taxes and less burdensome regulations would offset the cost of a foundry and heat treatment facility. In addition they could diversify and make parts for Boeing or one of the auto plants in the South East or even an ATV plant.
So cool that they just let you want around with a camera with only the one restriction.
That's confidence in their work.
Great information to know. Thanks for the inside scoop.
Another excellent video, thanks Eric!
Always great info! Thanks sir!
Thanks for sharing and the honest commentary 👍
I bought a set of the BBC V2 335 Magnums. AFR was very helpful in helping me upgrade for boost. Heavier springs, better retainers and very happy with customer service.I am a AFR customer for life.
Most guys go for any head they could get!
Thank you very much
,,,,,,,Thanks,,,,great presintation for us serious gearheads.......Knowledge is the road to winning..............
Another great video.You are my favorite You tuber,by far
Very educational video. Thank you for sharing.
I would love to flow an old set of brownfields. They worked good back in the day.
I guessed right on the casting made overseas. I figure the reason I had is wrong, but made me feel better. I was surprised to see the casting quality and design differences. Also I did not know each state had different % numbers on the Made in USA claim.
Great job, there is some good information in this video Thanks Eric
Another excellent video…well done
Don’t feel bad! I would rather go see how people build parts, than go to any Super Bowl! 🤣🤣🤣🤣! It also sucks that you went to AFR first, because if you ever get invited to that B company that sent you garbage 🗑! You will see exactly why, I was there probably 25 years ago, it seemed like most of the workers were not happy & the place seemed like a dungeon 🙄🙄🙄🙄! I know they put out some good products! Hopefully it’s changed, going back to AFR it seems like they have an amazing shop! Plus there warranty is all you need to know! I’m really glad to see that they are using Epocs for there valve jobs! I was after my boss about that along time ago, he thought he had the best valve job outside of the absolute top tear racing-builders, his was better than most, & he spent tons of time on every one, when his circle track head got set on a small EPOC, not the 120 thousand dollar one, I believe they have a 60 thousand dollar machine, it went in & recut his valve job completely, in like 15 minutes & the head picked up a minimum of 10 cfm! Now you know how hard that is on a cast iron circle track head that your not allowed to port 🙄🙄🙄🙄😜😜😜😜! Other than going to Matt’s place, or Edelbrock, well what they used to have, I think 🧐 your going to be let down by just about anywhere else 😂😂😂😂! I’m guessing they are not in talks with getting back going with Edelbrock? Although Buddy Bar makes top quality castings! It’s really sad to see that companies put tons of money 💰 in R&D, than some asshole buys it & has it knocked off in china! I really think we need some new kinds of patents!!! What was also sad to see, that china AFR, really looks nicer in casting quality! I’m hoping that AFR checks the material quality often! Because over the years, we’ve seen stuff that comes from overseas, that started out great! But within a very short time, we were having parts breakage, that we never had previously! Not just us either, lots of builders 🙄🙄🙄🙄! Great video! Its great to have people who actually remember what telling the truth is! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Great info, thanks man!
Always remember that volumetric efficiency is always the key to efficiency to power and performance. The cylinder head is a strong part of the statement.
Great informative video, thank you
That thing with the tooling makes sense - standard procedure
When you want something made, you often have the option of paying a flat fee for the tooling, or just buying the parts (usually a significant quantity) and letting the manufacturer provide the tooling
In the first instance, YOU own the tooling, and it (at least in theory) cannot be used to make anything for anyone else
In the second instance, the manufacturer owns the tooling, and can use their own tools to make parts for anyone
You see why people usually opt for option A...
Building a street stroker SBF ... Researching and researching head data always leads me back to AFR. They really are a great company.
Having worked in engineering in the past and sourcing materials in China, there were two stages:
1- inexpensive substandard crap
2- market price quality stuff
Take your pick. The factories will make whichever you prefer. Bankers manipulating currencies is the reason the Chinese can make the same Western product for ”less”. Do you think Chinese workers are paid so little they live under bridges and have holes in the soles of their shoes? Think boat rides across the ocean are free?
As cool as it is to make quality, fun product, the job of loading castings on to a pallet, in a CNC, or even assembling the final product, gets monotonous fast. It's the love of the job, the people around you, and the spirit of the company that makes those jobs careers rather than just paycheques.
Thanks for the video, Eric. I wish a head company would make a small block Oldsmobile head. I would buy the first 2 sets.
It is a bit of overwhelming in the AFR factory. We only do 1 set of heads at a time. They are digital and we are analog. I live and die by PAC springs.
I would take an AFR tour over the Super Bowl any day of the week.
Good video thanks for sharing. I like the Made in America laws you touched on too. Where do titanium valves come from?
Eric thanks for your videos and all the flow numbers and info you provide I was wondering who the two companies are that are selling the afr designed Chinese casted heads?
Great video. Lifetime casting warranty is great. I've had issues with some aluminum heads cracking. Wonder what causes that? Video?
That was an exciting video. I have bought some Chinese cylinder heads , Chevy , Ford and big Mopar. All of them were great castings. China will sell you anything and any quality . And don't care were the design comes from
Not only that, there are no shortage of first world countries that will produce automotive trash.
Right on
I want to know the name of the person that designed the AFR BBC Roval port heads and the BBF Bullitt heads.
I want to put him on my Christmas Card list...love those heads.
How do you like the trick flow power port 290's for a 460?
Interesting!!! I had a question while watching this & then you said they have a problem with the small ford head & now I'm really intrigued to what that is???? Spacificly with the small ford head???? Anyway, as a porter, do you have a preferred thickness as in a measurement how thin you can make the metal in any certain area of a port? I know you can't measure, unless of course you break through. But to have a educated guess when removing material you don't want paper thin im guessing if you can help it. Is the a rule of thumb of a thickness???
How much seat preasure do I need for a 600 lift solid flat tappet cam BB mopar ?
Are they still using, the evacuated mold, vacuum type, filled from below type casting process ?
Love my 20° ford heads
I know you mainly deal with american v8 aluminum heads but if you get a chance to visit larry widmer at endyn/mast motorsports that would be cool.
Currently is it a demand or supply issue? Cause that’s a lot of heads
Interesting about what amount of overseas parts are used and can and can't claim Made in USA.
what camera were you using for the video?
6👍's up EW thanks for sharing
Very cool video! Any suggestions for Ford 460 heads? Street/strip set up.
I've been looking myself and I've settled on the afr bullit heads but they are in the process of moving the casting of those heads from the edelbrock found to the buddy bar foundry... Not sure where they are in the process but it'll be worth the wait!!
I am trying to buy 385 bbc heads but I don't know if if they are in stock or not.
Hi there from Australia, lots of great info & interesting... that chinese head looked like a quality piece of casting... as a side note, you mentioned Dart heads. have a set of Dart 2 heads for SBC. what is good or bad about them, & what can be improved pls??? Thanks..
Hi Eric, I too would like your review on any Dart heads. Just received a pair of SHP 180/64 , through Jegs. Only had to wait 2 weeks. Maybe because they're not as desirable? Should be fine on .my street 383.
Tell me how long will it be before I am able enough to purchase a AFR HEAD for my 99 Dodge Ram 5.9L Magnum engine...
Tanks...
Eric- do you think AFR is as good since Tony left?
wonder if the casting material is the same?
Good information I just got my set of afr 195 cnc port street sbc heads I'm a little disappointed after doing so much research. Right out of the box I see aluminum flakes and thin slices hanging in the top of the intake ports where they are cut into the rocker stud holes leaving ugly holes in the port I know the junk hanging isn't normal is cutting into the stud hole normal thanks for a reply debating if I need to send them back
Yes it’s normal
For those who didn't know, Aeroflow sells a 23° 213cc CNC ported head that looks and flows awfully alot like the AFR Small Block Chevy heads. Only they're about a quarter to a third of the price of AFR.
Get what you pay for. I will support an American Co. above the Chinese. People buy for quality not just cheap price
What would cause a head to flow very well on the flow bench after it is ported but not make more power on the engine?
The pumping action and variations in engine speed can’t be replicated on a flow bench. Not to mention the complex vortices, tumble and turbulence that happens during the combustion cycle which isn’t part of flow bench testing at all.
It's great that the cash infusion came from one car enthusiast company to another.
Tikka is a gun company in Finland. Beretta made a huge investment in them, but they left most of the control to the original guys. Most of their investment was to buy the factory upgraded manufacturing equipment.
If the giant investment firm that bought Remington and Marlin acted that way, maybe things would have worked well.
10:33 I just wish they went somewhere better than mainland China if they couldn't find a place in the USA. I think Enginequest or Pro Topline went to New Zeland.
17:02 Sounds like it could also be used to determine if a batch is defective.
19:39 Here is the company and some of their machines in action:
ua-cam.com/users/NewenIncvideos
22:43 I like seeing the PAC springs. Too many heads come with unknown parts.
39:51 It pained my grandfather to see that my dad's '71 Toyota Corolla wasn't awful.
I just hate the CCP with a passion.
👍💪
CNC machine is pretty much a money printing machine if you can afford to intially buy one. The money they've been charging for all these years, they could have bought a foundry to cast their own heads.
I guess asking when Edelbrocks FE heads are coming back is futile?😆
Speedway Heads, thoughts on them? Can you make them into a good head?
I have no experience with them.
@@WeingartnerRacing Thanks for the quick reply. Love your videos, very informative and easy to understand. Have a Blessed weekend!
Is there any 23 degree chevy heads that flow over 320cfm? I was looking at some weld tech 10x , but I wonder what my options are
Many several over 340cfm
@@WeingartnerRacing I'm looking to build a 421 SBC to make 700hp n/a like the one you previously did .. I'm just wondering what my most economic option is
@@shoominati23 I had one on my dyno last week that made 712 horsepower. It had a set of AFR heads. The place he bought it from said that it made 770 which I thought was probably unrealistic. To me it seemed to not be cammed correctly and was only in the 560's for peak torque.
They are Using Haas machines, not Mazak. Haas and Mazak’s are brands of machines. Not types of cnc machines. But fascinating none the less. I love your content.
They have both. Mazak does the initial operation then haas to cnc port the heads.
They have Mori's, too
ARR sbc China head looks like a thicker deck
Owner probably sold the company cause he seen the writing on the wall with all the epa shit and fines to retailers, I’m sure he figured let me cash out while I can. I personally love afr heads had 227 then 227 eliminators and then 235 eliminators. I hope they come count with a raised runner head or a bigger head then the 245cc heads. I’m hard pressed to spend money on shaft rockers for a 23 degree head when a 18 or 15 head isn’t that much more money.
“Assembled in America with globally sourced components”
I’ve seen that so many times.
About the whole "Chinese" argument. When stuff is being cast they will test the quality of the metal to make sure it's up to spec... the same spec the California foundry is running off of. The old "Chinese pot metal" comes in when you pay 56.99 for heads not 800 dollar heads.
Yep
My worry is the aluminum billets quality they melt down and casting core and how they do it..
If the aluminum is a top quality aluminum billet virgin alloy and it's cast is done top notch, then yeah. I am cool with whatever.
I wonder what a perfect cast copy of the 195cc competition head that has a sand roll smoother took to it would flow?!?
I mean if it's cheaper and flows the same..... $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sign me up for a pair, that would bring cost down to a reasonable level because im not paying over 2500 for a set of heads, i don't care how much better they supposedly flow.
I’d rather go on a cylinder head factory than the super bowl too.
Eric good video but we did not see the slices...
For many years I was under the impression that Brownfield heads became AFR. Apparently I was misled.
Sort of. I have a condensed history.
I can't believe how much cleaner the China castings are... I truly would have thought the US castings would have been better.
Me Too
All new equipment.
Who ripped off the 195 sbc heads, promaxx?
Maybe allegedly.
It was my understanding there were issues mostly with the China valve seats not staying put in years past. Over the years I have seen a few that appeared to be the issue and had been told it was caused by the casting. If these AFR China heads are doing so good passing the tests, does AFR have a specification on the make up of the aluminum to make it a better material for head use? Or was all the China bad stories hogwash? Maybe it was user error or cheap parts? Just trying to get a understanding of the whole China heads are horrible but now that AFR is using them China is not bad now. 🤷🏼♂️
It’s not like that. China will make whatever quality you want to pay for. The afr casting is much better quality than a speed master/ procomp. Both made China but not same quality standards. To my knowledge afr is not using Chinese seats. I know they are machining and installing the seats in America except on the enforcer heads.
@@WeingartnerRacing Thank you for the reply/ explanation.
@@WeingartnerRacing So what your saying is if you took a speed master/ procomp head and removed all the seats and replaced with quality seats these heads would still have failures from the seats coming out because the aluminum these heads use is different / inferior?
Interesting. That might explain why if rebuilt correctly, you might not get valve seal fall out with a properly rebuilt 5.7 Hemi. At least the aluminum and casting was good enough, even if the OEM seats weren't.
Very few family businesses survive after the original founders die because the siblings can't work together.
True and they probably lack the passion of the founder and just want money.
Either that, or they get sold to some mega investment firm who has no clue about what customers like. When Remington and Marlin got sold to some giant firm, they decided they knew better than gunsmiths, and valued cheap production over quality. They made trash.
I’ve noticed AFR heads are getting CRAZY expensive lately..
21:13 AFR makes 18° SBC heads? Don’t see that on their website.
Bbc 18degree it’s on their website.
@@WeingartnerRacing That I saw. Rewatched that part. The way you said it made me think AFR had 18° SBC heads.
199cc patent the world
Need to break out the “assembery in America” tags again lol what a world we live in. Just educate yourself and buy the best you can. Be thankful we have sources to research
The Chinese can make a fine part, if you are willing to pay for the quality control they are capable of producing just as good a part as Edelbrock. If you want junk they can produce that too. Blame corporate American greed, and an uninformed cheap consumer for the influx of cheap inferior Chinese parts. Sad but true.
Having said that, I'm still glad I got my eliminators pre-covid and know they are Edelbrock castings.
We did it to ourselves by making Walmart the biggest customer of Chinese goods. We had a choice and we chose to buy the cheaper Chinese products.
Sometimes making things became impossible in the USA because the EPA and OSHA became impossible to work with. Other times the local agency made it hard. Sure, we need laborer and environmental safety. However, we don't need bloated micromanaging government agencies. Unfortunately, it resulted in sending business to where laborers and the environment are completely disposable.
This is why if I need or want foreign goods, I'll buy them where there is environmental and laborer safety and the laws are enforced. I'm sure no matter how many car guys are only into American cars, many will have some German made Knipex tools in their box.
Amazon is overtaking Wal of China Mart, but they aren't exactly changing the game for Chinese junk.
😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳
You lost me on the small block ford thing.
Instead of bitching about a casting shortage why can't they start making them get the other head companies together and make castings I understand they did what they had to buy move forward
No utubers going to know more than AFR.
I'd buy AFR if they move away from California so they don't pay into tyrant state taxes. I hear Florida is a good move 👍
You don't have to live in California, just enjoy the 234bn they pay in taxes to the Fed, it keeps the US afloat. Don't move to Florida though, they had the highest increase in fed taxes at 41.8% that must sting. Funny how things can look different from another angle.
I’m native to California. It used to be a great place in the 70’s. Now everyone is angry especially behind the wheel of a vehicle. So sad.
This is why some big tech firms went to Auston Texas. Unfortunately, the city sucks for people who were used to life before the major firms came in.