I have a chance to get a set of Pro Top Line heads for a reasonable price. They will be good to handle my LT4 hot cam and have 170cc intake/64cc combustion chambers.

The also have 1 piece stainless steel valves, screw in studs and guides. Ready to bolt on.

The guy claims he flowed them at 235 intake and 165 exhaust at .500 on the bench at 28* of water.

Are these heads worth the money though? I can get them for $500.

The alternative is I was going to go with the Dart 180's which according to the flow sheets only flow 225 at .500 and 175 at .600 at 28* of water.

What does everyone think about them? The specs on my motor are in the sig. I do not have the Dart 180's yet. In fact they arent even being worked on for another 2 weeks so I have time to cancel them at no penalty.

Thanks

 

Those sound like the stock replacement heads, they are not performance heads. But do perform much bettter than stock.

 

So you would say go with the Darts or Pro Top Lines?

 

Performance is relative though. An LT4 hotcam and those heads would be pretty darn fast to some people. It would certainly not earn you a reputation at the local track, but it'd still be whole heck of a lotta fun!!!

 

.....and to add to that, depending on your long term goals, If you're gonna keep the TPI, really nice high dollar heads are only gonna be a waste of money. The TPI won't feed really high performance heads.

...I've looked at keeping my TPI and going with pro-topline heads myself. Someday when the budget permits I'd like a high dollar high performance machine, but for now, I do what I can afford!

 

I am just looking at the cost vs. what I am getting.

Pro Top Lines are $500 with similar numbers as the Darts.

My Darts are running me $900 new.

400 bucks is... well... 400 bucks.

Obviously if overall the Dart was a better design I'd go for it, but if its not that much better than why spend the money.

Long term the motor is not getting any more mods. This is all it will ever get from this owner. I am staying with the TPI because I like how it looks under the hood and what I am able to get out of it.

What I am having trouble with now is verifying the flow numbers he claims he is getting. I can't find any flow data for these heads which is holding me back.

 

i know a couple guys that swear by them near me, for the price i'd go with the pro topline heads myself.

 

The pro-toplines look almost exactly like my Dart Pro-1's.
I work on heads often so I look them over quite thoroughly.

Honestly my Darts had more small casting flaws than the toplines, but it was nothing important. I'm not sure how they compare in deck thickness as I didn't have a guage handy when I was looking at the toplines.
I was impressed with how the toplines looked for the money. They come with gear that isn't exactly top of the line, but so did my Darts, and I really didn't expect any different.

I've never run the toplines myself but some local guys seem to like them.

Like Darts the toplines are a performance head, so don't expect a perfect bolt-on or to get 100% of their performance potential without some modification. They come in a fairly generic form, so you'll have to do at least some modification for them to be the best match for whatever combination you're putting them on.

Some examples would be matching the intake port with your intake manifold. Another would be to make sure your springs and install height match your camshaft requirements
....general stuff like that which should be expected with ANY performance build.

 

He's not talking about the performance heads, he's talking about the SR heads http://protopline.com/2236494083.asp

 

Okay thanks for the correction. I've never looked over any iron toplines.

 

yah i was talking about the aluminum aftermarket too my bad