Weiand Stealth 8020 on a 289

[Guest]

[acdcdave1387]

Hey there everyone...so I narrowed my intake selection down to either the Edelbrock RPM 7121 (or the AirGap 7521 as well) vs the Weiand Stealth 8020. They both look good and they both get good reviews from users...both aluminum...both roughly the same price (except the Airgap at $65-75 more) BUT ONE THING!!!

I found some pictures online of the Edelbrocks and it seems neither of them have the rear coolant crossover....where as the Weiand 8020 seems to have the rear crossover...in fact the Weiand site says it does and so does jegs and summit has pictures of it as well......

So I called Weiand to ask about this manifold on the Performer RPM heads and I ended up "fact-checking" just to check out the reliability of the tech guys information and he puts me on hold for about 6 minutes....then comes back and says that one DOES NOT have the rear crossover!? He said he just ran outside and looked at his car (which mysteriously had the underside of the intake clearly visible) and tells me that his doesn't have it so none of them do... WTH is this all about?

1. Does anyone else have crazy Weiand stories or am I only the only one?
2. What do yall think of the Stealth vs the Performer Rpm?

[juiced coupe]

1- I had a Stealth years ago, it had the rear crossover. I don't remember the thread, but someone posted up some pics indicating Weiand intakes are being cast offshore now. Just something to think about.

2- Flip a coin. I have used both on the same car, there was no difference. I currently have a RPM on my car. It performs well, had good, clean casting and finish work, and has no cooling issues (no rear crossover).

[SteveL]

Question, why do you need the rear crossover??

[acdcdave1387]

Well I don't really "need" the rear crossover, it just seems nicer to have for cooling...I'm sure the Edelbrock's run fine but it never hurts to have added insurance. Do you think a stock water pump would do fine with either intake with or without the rear crossover?

[juiced coupe]

Do you think a stock water pump would do fine with either intake with or without the rear crossover?

If it works well now, it will with either intake.

[acdcdave1387]

I should be fine with stock water pump/oil pump/fuel pump I think. I'm not doing too many high performance parts. I'm saving money here and there so I can get nice heads. I'm thinking Edelbrock Performer RPM heads #60229. That's the best I can find in my price range. I'm trying to keep it under $600 a head.

[juiced coupe]

I have Edelbrock heads on my car. They needed a LOT of work to get them where I felt comfortable using them. TFS offer similar prepped heads in that same price range, and that would be my choice.

[acdcdave1387]

Thanks man, I checked out the TFS heads and they look pretty good, I'll definitely consider them. They are a tad bit more expensive but it might be worth it...

So what exactly do you mean about "lots of work getting your heads to where you were comfortable with them?" What all was done?

Seems Jegs doesn't carry TFS heads though, although Summit does...does anyone prefer one over the other? I've always ordered from Jegs because I heard of them first and have continued ordering from them since because it seems most parts are relatively the same price.

Oh and on a separate note...I was thinking of going with the XE274H cam...I like the rough idle, but do you think it's too rediculous for a non-racer? I won't be racing it but it's not a daily driver either...I just want it to sound mean.

[juiced coupe]

So what exactly do you mean about "lots of work getting your heads to where you were comfortable with them?" What all was done?

1- Springs, retainers, and locks were junk. 2- There were no spring seats, just a shim to protect the head. 3- The valves were tight in the guides.

They are a tad bit more expensive

I was thinking of going with the XE274H cam...

With similar prep (single spring), there is only like a $40 difference.

With that cam, neither head's single spring will hold up. TFS offers their head with a dual spring, but I don't know how close the spec are. You may wind up changing springs either way.

[gtvert90]

Get a couple more posts in and the site opens up and you can read the design differences between the TFS TW and the RPM's and why it'll be worth saving an extra month to get the better head

 

[acdcdave1387]

Thanks for the welcome gtvert! 

[acdcdave1387]

Thanks again to everyone in this thread. I'm learning a lot, hehe(still a newbie).

I've decided to go ahead and save money by not getting heads. I'll go ahead and get all the proper springs/retainers/locks recommended to me by comp cams themselves so that nothing ends up failing. This way I'll also have a smaller combustion chamber which will help maintain compression because I'm using stocktype pistons .030 over from summit. They have a 3cc volume within the valve-notches which lowers compression way too much when coupled with the 60-61cc chambers in those heads I was gonna get.

Oh and special thx to juiced coupe for informing me of the TFS heads. Not only did it cause me to realize how much better summit is than jegs, but they really are nice heads....maybe one day I'll hit the lotto.....maybe I should start playing it first......

[jayh]

that cam is probably not a good choice for you, but without knowing the whole car/combo, noone can really say

start a thread in the grassroots cam section about that specific issue

there really is no benefit to the rear coolant crossover as far as intakes go...

[BornInAFord]

Seems Jegs doesn't carry TFS heads though, although Summit does...does anyone prefer one over the other? I've always ordered from Jegs because I heard of them first and have continued ordering from them since because it seems most parts are relatively the same price.

Summit Racing owns Trickflow

Daniel

[super64]

Thanks man, I checked out the TFS heads and they look pretty good, I'll definitely consider them. They are a tad bit more expensive but it might be worth it...

So what exactly do you mean about "lots of work getting your heads to where you were comfortable with them?" What all was done?

Seems Jegs doesn't carry TFS heads though, although Summit does...does anyone prefer one over the other? I've always ordered from Jegs because I heard of them first and have continued ordering from them since because it seems most parts are relatively the same price.

Oh and on a separate note...I was thinking of going with the XE274H cam...I like the rough idle, but do you think it's too rediculous for a non-racer? I won't be racing it but it's not a daily driver either...I just want it to sound mean.

I choose Summit over Jegs for several reasons; Summit has multiple fulfillment locations, which means for me, most of the stuff I order comes from Sparks, Nevada. I believe Jegs is only in Ohio.
Summit, for me, has better customer service. Before I converted to alternator on my Mustang, I tried a PowerGen, which is an alternator hidden inside a generator case. Bought it from Jegs. I could not get this thing to work correctly in my old car. Left me stranded twice, once on cruisenight at 11:30 PM. Jegs had me return it to Powermaster. Powermaster said there was nothing wrong with it. Meanwhile, I had my original generator hot-rodded to put out 75 amps locally. So I told Powermaster I didn't want it. I told Jegs I didn't want it. But, Powermaster sent it all the way from Tennesee to Colorado, just so I could ship it back to Ohio to Jegs. I probably lost $100.00 in shipping over that boat anchor!
   Summit always gets my stuff right the first time, and their tech support is very helpful. Jegs was almost as much a P.I.T.A as the tech guy from Powermaster.
My 2 pesos,
Brian