What's 'wrong' with patriot heads?
so what are you saying? it's a little confusing from your post, but it sounds like you are saying the heads are holding you back? That you're only maiing 50hp more on a large ci c5r turbo motor then you made on a street turbo motor? 
Sorry for the covertness. We are not ready to post our final numbers on the car so I didnt want to push it all over the place.
The 346ci Turbo System made 845RWHP on 17psi thru a six speed (11.7:1 average a/f)
Our first pass with the 427 with 13 psi (9:1 average a/f) and a TH 400 (sucks alot more power) pretty close to that. We are hoping for a decent end result with some more boost
The 346ci Turbo System made 845RWHP on 17psi thru a six speed (11.7:1 average a/f)
Our first pass with the 427 with 13 psi (9:1 average a/f) and a TH 400 (sucks alot more power) pretty close to that. We are hoping for a decent end result with some more boost
sounds to me like he's saying patriot heads are working for him...not to mention that 90% of anything you ever hear bad about patriot nowadays is from what "used" to happen or what people have read "awhile ago"...it sounds like they have a lot of problems but most of the responses are from other people reading about one person's problem so really all the posts that are negative towards patriot cut that in half...and that is the real problem...i haven't seen ANY problems whatsoever recently with their heads...since they changed a few things...patriot seems to make good heads from what i can tell...people just get pissed cause they spent another 1000-2000 dollars on heads that make 5-10 more hp and do the same job as patriots...i agree you get what you pay for...but only to a certain extent...it's like paying $10 for sunglasses that work or paying $200 for some oakley's that do the same job
TECH Resident
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 848
Likes: 1
From: Working in the shop 24/7
Originally Posted by Timberwolf
well that's why I was asking. there's nothing on the head itself that could make it drop a valve, so the heads aren't really at fault, it's the valve train.
Has anything been done to address the valve QC issue?
And it's not really like blaming a fuse for an electrical problem. The valve lock functions really NOTHING like a fuse. It's not there as a weak link to prevent damage like a fuse is in your example. If it fails, it CAUSES the damage. It was a legit question.
Blaming the lock failure for a "valve" tolerance issues was being compared to blaming the fuse for blowing when the real problem was an electrical failure. "Valve" dimensional tolerance problems caused a lock to break. Like a square peg being beat on with a sledgehammer to fit into a round hole!
Ed
I've had my Patriot 5.3s on since early May of this year and to date they have performed flawlessly. I have no complaints. When I got them I had my father who has built many SBCs, BBCs @ Hemi's tear them down and inspect them for any assembly defects. He found everything put together right and no problems. They made nice power for my small cam and the fact I am also running cats.
You may ask "Would I buy them again?" The answer is no due to the fact that now there are bigger and better heads out there but at the time they fit in my budget and power range perfectly.
You may ask "Would I buy them again?" The answer is no due to the fact that now there are bigger and better heads out there but at the time they fit in my budget and power range perfectly.
dunno, i bought mine when terry still worked there...they treated me exceptionally well and i was very pleased with the heads...$995 for my perimeter bolts, they had the teflon seals but they took them back on their token & installed the viton seals and polished my combuston chamber as with their 5.3 heads...no core & no problems as of yet though i wrecked my car a couple of months ago...i put 5K miles on the car with no problems and will be putting the motor into my s-10 shortly and i have no plans of going to a different head.
TECH Resident
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 922
Likes: 1
From: Lexington Park, MD
purchased mine when Terry worked there as well.. I can only speak for myself and a few others that I've installed on fellow C5 cars.. I've had mine on for over a year now racking up thousands of miles and I don't think anyone could beat the living **** out of a car like I can 
There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not seeing redline 
No problems so far...
honestly, the guys who have had bad luck in the past (no matter how long ago), are the ones you'll constantly see popping up in these PP head bashing threads. Just do a search.. It doesn't matter if all the processes have changed, parts changed, whatever.. They're still bitter about their bad experiences and will still bash them today.
There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not seeing redline No problems so far...honestly, the guys who have had bad luck in the past (no matter how long ago), are the ones you'll constantly see popping up in these PP head bashing threads. Just do a search.. It doesn't matter if all the processes have changed, parts changed, whatever.. They're still bitter about their bad experiences and will still bash them today.
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 14,620
Likes: 17
From: BFE
This is a direct quote from Gunnar at Patriot
As you can see, judging from the countries where the products come from, I wouldn't call their quality control outstanding.
Believe me i live in a 2nd/3rd world country and I know why the products never match "made in US or Germany or England ..." quality.
I repeat you get what u pay for, it is up to you to make the decision.
We source from wherever quality is found at a fair price.
Raw castings are OEM (Mexico)
23-8N Stainless Steel Valves are Turkish (manufacter of Porsche's valves)
Ti Retainers are Russian (same as Doug Herbert Performance)
Viton Rubber Seals are from Detroit
Patriot Gold Springs are from Associated Spring (made in Brazil, same as OE)
Intake Ports are 238 cfm on our new LS6 style ports
Raw castings are OEM (Mexico)
23-8N Stainless Steel Valves are Turkish (manufacter of Porsche's valves)
Ti Retainers are Russian (same as Doug Herbert Performance)
Viton Rubber Seals are from Detroit
Patriot Gold Springs are from Associated Spring (made in Brazil, same as OE)
Intake Ports are 238 cfm on our new LS6 style ports
Believe me i live in a 2nd/3rd world country and I know why the products never match "made in US or Germany or England ..." quality.
I repeat you get what u pay for, it is up to you to make the decision.
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