I'd like to get a set of stage 1.5 or 2 heads for my LS1, but all these posts are so confusing. GTP looks really good but costs almost 3000.00 dollars. The TEA and Absolute heads both look good in their own way and the price is right. The TEA's are CNC ported, and the Absolutes are hand ported. I get confused when I see posts with low readings, but I also see posts with high readings. It's so hard to talk apples to apples when some folks dont have LT's or LS6 intakes.

Also I'm a little concerned about the lower rpm torque. If the ports are hogged out I'll loose my low rpm. Is there a big difference between TEA and Absolute on the port volume?

Any opinion is welcome. My application is below

I am running a TR230/224 @111, Longtubes, LS6 Manifold, YT 1.7 Rockers.

What do you think, and why?

 

Go with Jay at absolute...I have TEA stage 2 5.3 liter's on my car right now..and i'm selling them to get a set of 5.3's from Jay...absolute speed is my choice just because of their low and mid lift number's as well as their peaks...tea's intake volume is semi large but still produces good power..they are both great head's in my opinion...but i would vote for absolute unless TEA comes out with a new port design soon jay's intake port volume on his stage 2 head's are only generally 9cc's larger than stock!!..talk about velocity Later,

Carter

 

Why not the "more cost effective" patriots? Mine perform well.

 

patriot's are nice..but there low and mid's arent that great...absolute's are the siznit because of their swirl,velocity,port volume,flow number's ect..and they are only 200 bucks more.

 

What needs to happen is someone compare all of the them on an independent bench.I have not seen he absolute head on our bench.I have seen some of the other companies heads.MTI,ARE,TEA heads have been on my bench.On our bench we are very competitive, Our head (Patriot)and the TEA Stage 1.5 is the best heads I have seen.People bash the CNC ported heads,But I have yet to see a hand ported head outflow the CNC cut heads.I am sure the absolute heads are a quality product.I will only advertise what our head flowed on my bench.

 

Terry,
I am not at all saying your head's are bad..the number's look in competition with pretty much every other vendor..I was just commenting on port volume and velocity mainly...but even still..see if jay or someone that has a set of A/S head's would loan them to you and you flow them on your bench...I would like to see those result's as well...Later,

Carter

 

I would go with Absolute Speed heads. But im not one to take chances. Flow #`s arent everything and I would look at other peoples experiences and see how they are doing. But what do I know. Average s2 heads these days should get you a 30+ hp gain if you arent getting that kind of gain you are you really saving money. I personally saw my heads flowed on the bench and my car makes good power. No offense but I havent seen any cars making any big power #`s with patriot heads yet. That may change in the near future I am not sure how they work into the TEA or Absolute discussion.

BTW DALE

We are both running the same camshaft and I have the absolute speed stage 2 5.3 heads. I made 421 RWHP 384 RWTQ in my A4 car. Closed exhaust, no short belt, no dyno tricks. I would have to say with your M6 car you would see nice increase over what my A4 does.

 

Here is a link to my results. I am very very happy with my AS heads.

 

ok first let me say I was in the same boat here. I was in a toss up with AS and TEA. I see all of these KILLER flow numbers from AS, BUTTTTTTTTT show me more and one car running good times with them? JFM runs 11.0's but are there anymore close??????? I never see ET's from AS heads, maybe its cause the cars that get them never race, suck at driving, or just never get the right conditions to ET well. Im not bashing AS here cause I love Jay's prices and work. Its just that I saw the TEA heads with lower mid lift numbers running more and better ET's at the track. Im more of a ET person than FLOW NUMBER or DYNO queen type. You can brag all day about flow's and dynos, but where does that get you if you cant run better than mid 11's with heads/cam? I went with TEA cause I just saw them out running AS on the track. Its loads of cars in the 11.2-11.3 range with there heads. Now put those heads on a car already running 11.5-6's and you are gonna have a damn close 10sec NA car! Its gonna be a tough choice for ya, cause it was for me. Either heads are great and im sure you will be happy. I just know my TEA 1.5's pull like a **** and traction below 40 is no longer there

Absolute:
FRIGGIN AWESOME PRICE
awesome mid lifts
awesome dyno numbers
awesome service
but where are the ET's??????

TEA:
AWESOME PRICE AGAIN
great flow numbers
awesome dyno's
top notch service
but they have the cars et'ing well to back them up!

if my POS runs like she feels now she's going 10.9-11.15 i hope with just a 224 cam and 3.23's

but guys with AS heads are gonna say AS, and guys with TEA are gonna say TEA. Im partial to both and just made a last minute decision for TEA's cause of searching dyno numbers in here and ET's in the drag section. If you search you can find some of my old posts. Call Jay at AS, and call Brent... talk to both then make your mind up

 

I like my TEA's. See sig.

Bruce

 

Hey Farm Boy, where are your track numbers since making the switch?
:p

 

You can't go wrong with either.
If you want flow #'s,they have to be done with an Intake installed to see how well the port works with it.You'd be surprised with the results.

 

well 98autota, what were your dyno #s. Im sure you have had to dyno the car since the heads. as for patriot,Gomer you only gained like 20 hp. thats pretty low dude. Hey Patriot, f you want to see AS on your flow bench, im sure Jay will hook yah up with a good (fellow sponsor) deal. As for AS not having many et.s yet, ya gotta rememeber its summer. I havent seen any new et.s from tea recently. but i sure have seen alot better dyno #s with AS then tea. with out light weight flywheels to help them out.

 

Depending on where you live.. Your dyno #'s are going to be different than anyone elses.. I am real curious to what my car would dyno outside of Florida. Many of my peers have went out of state and have dyno'd 20 to 40rwhp higher.. Which seems odd to me, but when I see other cars track times who claim to dyno 20 to 30 rwhp more than I.. I am not impressed. MPH shows your horsepower.. Thats also if you factor in the cars raceweight.. Too many people come on here and post #'s w/out giving all the facts or telling the ABSOLUTE truth.. I say pic a head with a proven track record. Prep your car for whatever task you want it to accomplish and you should be happy with the results..

 

dont have any cause its been 90-100 degrees out. Will have some new ones this fall. But these were definitly a butt-o-meter pickup Felt like when i first put the stall in the car. Still smiling everyday i take her out on the street after the heads went on.

Mike M: no dyno numbers... dont believe in them. My dyno is simple. If its faster at the track, then I picked up HP. Joe Overton tuned my car with some atap logs I logged and man o man did it bring the car to life! I wish I had looked him up before I did the heads. Maybe, just maybe she woulda pulled some 11.3-40's with just the cam. The only reason I would like to dyno is for my A/F, but I only went to a dyno once since ive had the car and that was about 3-4 years ago. Guy claimed my trans was messed up or something, but its funny ive been racing and driving everyday on it since with no issues knock on wood

i wouldnt care if I pulled 290, 350, 380, or even 450 on the dyno. The only thing I want to see is a slip thats about 3-4 tenths quicker than the one I already have

like I said though, im not putting down AS. I would tell anyone to look them and TEA up first! Just saying when i made my decision I saw more numbers and etc from TEA, plus a few of my friends like Hardtop were getting killer numbers with them!

Vince: well said man... its funny that most of the cars you see dynoing these killer numbers dont have any really good et's to back them up. I mean if a 340hp bolt on car runs 11.5's then a 430-450hp car should be well in the 10's right? But setups differ and the weather affects everyone differently. I admitt I was very impressed by AS's flow sheet and dynos, but i just didnt see the track numbers at the time. They have the numbers which should equal some very fast cars. I just wanna see them rip up the track this fall.

but back to the poster... you might as well flip a quarter cause its a toss up with these 2

 

Another thing too.. All this hype of flow #'s... My heads only flow 280cfm on the intake.. 224 on the exhaust. This is at .600 lift.. I have Mac midlengths and the ugliest y-pipe you have ever seen. Muffler is the SLP dual dual.. I have dual cutouts. With cutouts closed I have put out 408 to 410rwhp consistently in over 90 degree weather. This is with heavy azz 315's out back and NO DYNO TRICKS WHATSOEVER.. I do no cool down during runs. I just go. With cutouts open I dyno over 420rwhp. I am sure if I did the tricks others do I could get 430rwhp.. Not too mention my car has a tune from 4 cams ago.. One more time.. 280cfm on the intake side at .600 lift.. I have no track times because I do not go to the track.. I have however bust major behind on the street even at a raceweight over 3700lbs..

 

Wow there is alot of talk about dyno tricks here. Im not sure who here is doing dyno tricks. If you believe in dyno tricks you are only fooling yourself. I also would have to say that track times have alot to do with the setup ( suspension / Weight / Tires . When i made alot less hp i was in the 11`s on a drag radial and stock suspension on a full weight car. Now that I added about 60 hp I cant hook up anymore.Time to spend even more money on suspension and better tires. Like HD said there are cars with 350 hp running 11.50`s but at what weight and with what tires. I am positive my car can back up my dyno #`s as soon as I can get the car too hookup. There are many guys are on here with 440 rwhp and run low 12`s. Thats just not right!!

Glad to hear your car runs strong Vince. I wish i was in florida where the racing goes year round. Too damn seasonal up here.

 

The ET's are around. Just ask.
ONYXSS went 10.94 @ 123.70. Right here in Maryland, and an A4 4L60E too.
Harold, don't you have an A4? :p

 

We have fun year round.

 

My car has great bottom end and response. Last year I went with TEA because at that time I think they were the very best value for the money, this was just before Absolute appeared as a sponsor.

If I was in the market for a new set of heads today:

I'd regard the intake flow numbers from anyone as meaningless unless they are taken with the intake in place. Sponsors don't give the flow with the intake in place beacause its less across the board. I would want to flow test both sets of heads on the same bench, same operator with the LS6 intake in place. Next and I'd test both exhaust ports with a 1 3/4 inch pipe about 6 inches long. After checking for swirl, reversion, quality of work etc then I'd have the info I need to make an objective choice.

Since that's not likely to happen, go with the one you like better. I know my TEA's checked out good on swirl, reversion, etc as well as good flow.