ecetim

iTrader: (3)

I'm looking at purchasing a set of used heads & cam with 8K miles on them. I wanted to get some opinions on the combo.

ARE Stage II cylinder heads (Does anyone know how to find this company's contact info?)
Double springs, brand unknown
2.055/1.60 valves

Flow Chart
Lift | Intake | Exhaust
.200 | 142 | ???
.300 | 201 | 154
.400 | 248 | 196
.500 | 275 | 211
.600 | 295 | 218
.700 | 289 | 221

224/224 112 cam - no cam card

Dyno sheet showing 420RWHP/367TQ on a Mustang dyno thru a T-56

I need to try and get more details on the heads - if they came with hardened seats, Ti retainers, etc. 8K miles isn't much, but if I need to re-fresh them to ensure quality then this may not be the deal for me.

Also the torque on the dyno seems low. These heads do flow about as well as Patriot Stage II 243 heads and look like they support some good lift. If the cam had a lift <0.600, could that be choking the torque some?

I'm getting the feeling I may not have enough info to make a safe purchase, i.e. knowing exactly what I'm getting, what do you guys think?

RE AND CHERYL

iTrader: (31)

I'm thinking the flow numbers are a little low for the valve sizes. And even with LT headers 420 rwhp is a bit high consittering a Mustang dyno usually reads lower than a Dyno Jet.

How much are the cam and heads??

Re'

ecetim

iTrader: (3)

Seller isn't 100% sure on the valve sizes - hence the need to contact the company. But when you google "ARE cylinder heads," nothing directly comes up.

The price is right, assuming the heads don't need any work. What worries me is the lack of details around what parts are in the heads and the cam lift.

CaptainSS1

I believe ARE is out of business (3+years) I had ARE stage II heads and a 224/228/114 cam and all the other stuff that you do when you do that.
Ran strong. Dyno'd about 400/385 rw. There were two versions of those heads, the first go round met with harsh criticism for low flow/low power. They came out with a version two and they did much better.

(ARE was Agostino Racing)

teke184

iTrader: (5)

420rwhp on a mustang dyno.....with a 224 cam and heads that flow under 300cfm...


RIGHT!!!!


sounds like someone is BSing you

Vrbas

iTrader: (2)

Hmmm, no offense but those flow numbers look subpar

CaptainSS1

I mentioned there were two iterations of the ARE stage II heads, judging from those numbers - they were probably version #1 which did not impress anybody.
I would not put those on my car especially with what is available these days.

mypoorLS1

iTrader: (4)

Agostino Racing Engines

cam

iTrader: (9)

Yup ARE is out of business. They used to be a site sponsor here but less than preferable business practices ended up with them going the way of the dodo bird. They did make some of the fastest LS1's in their time however.

That being said any used heads should be looked at as bare castings and valves as far as I'm concerned. New valve springs/seals should be considered a mandatory upgrade to any used heads as well as an inspection/freshen on the valve job/guides.

I bought used stg 2 ported heads off the boards here with 5k miles for $400 bucks that came off a supposed 400 rwhp set up with the TR224 which is the same cam i a running. Well after install and booking a dyno tune we fired it up and floated the valves on the first pull at 5200 RPM even though the valves springs literally looked like new ( Comp 918's )

After discussion with my tuner and local LS1 engine shop i was advised with heavy persuasion not to put on another set of 918's and run the patriot golds. I was concerned and felt they were overkill for my 75k mile engine on stock lifters especially considering my small cam. I mulled it over and went for the patriot springs $255 for the entire set with Ti retainers which makes the "sweet" deal I got on the used heads pretty much toast although that is a great deal on those springs compared to any other set currently available.

Now that i have run the snot out of my car for a season I cant say enough great things about the patriot gold springs. My limiter is set to 7K and it gets hammered fairly often and I have had no issues at all with float. The Patriot gold springs are the best available spring out there for <650 lift set ups IMO.

Anyways after all the BS I had to endure with these used heads to try and save a few hundred bucks I only wish i could back up the clock and get the new good stuff from the start. I ended up paying more in lost time and extra tuning costs that blew me over the top of the cost of new heads to begin with. Patriot 5.3 CNC ported heads are under a grand BRAND NEW all set up worry free and are proven performers certainly better than old school ARE heads so thats the route I'd take.

Stay away from 918 springs whatever route you go with they have been plagued with problems and i have yet to read one single post about valve spring issues with the P golds. Good luck

ecetim

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for the info guys.

After some reflection on my own, I reached the same conclusion that any heads set should be regarded as bare - no telling what condition they are in.

For anyone else's info, I posted the dyno sheet & flow chart here:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/showpost....2&postcount=25