SBC Pro-Topline Iron Heads

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scoti

Royal Smart Person
Sep 5, 2019
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Late in 2018 I had a hot-rodding buddy pass away. The back story is he had been fighting cancer on/off for a while (around 2016) when he & I started BS'ing @ our local hot-rod/cruise-in/burger joint. He had purchased a nice 427sbc for his El Camino but wasn't able to put it in because he was weak from treatments. I knew the story & about his health issue so I volunteered to be his labor so he could enjoy his remaining time. He & I shared Saturdays tinkering on his Elco & bench building.... Standard guy stuff.

As stated, his time was limited & he passed just before the end of '18. Last year, I assisted his widow with sorting the garage stuff for the insurance related pro-bate politics. She was told by him that all the parts & tools in the garage were mine for the taking if/when the time came. So I helped sort what went where & took what was not related to the Elco or other vehicles he had been wrenching on in the past. One of the items was a pair of partially assembled cast iron sbc heads. I had no idea what they were; only that they weren't stock.

I've been making a big push to consolidate & clean-up my shop early this year. These heads have been sitting on a bench for a while now so I started doing research & believe them to be Pro-Topline heads. Based on the serial numbers stamped into the ends, it appears they're:

Pro-Lightning series Cast Iron/23° heads
64cc chamber/220cc runner
'As cast' bowls/chambers/ports
Angle Plug

I plan to list them on my local C-list but not sure what value to put on them since they're not fully assembled or new. They were on a sbc @ some point but now only have valves & rocker studs in place but that's about it. It looks like when he felt good enough for some tinkering time, he was cleaning-up/smoothing the ports.

Any help would be appreciated.
 

Injectedcutty

G body LS mafia
Nov 24, 2014
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I'd say a couple hundred bucks would be fair. I had the same heads on my old 355, but with straight plugs. They were 64cc with 2.02/1.60 valves. I had a hard time figuring out the brand, the machine shop that built them for me used them all the time!
I beat the crap out of that 355 for 10 years, the heads always did their job! Sorry to hear about the friend, and hopefully you can get something out of them.
 
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bracketchev1221

Royal Smart Person
Jan 18, 2018
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Put them out there for $500 and see what happens. I don't think there is a big market for heads that big in steel. 220 head on a small block is a pretty healthy little motor, or a 6000 rpm 400+ inch engine. And with todays availability, you may be hard pressed to get rid of them for a high number.
 
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scoti

Royal Smart Person
Sep 5, 2019
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I'd say a couple hundred bucks would be fair. I had the same heads on my old 355, but with straight plugs. They were 64cc with 2.02/1.60 valves. I had a hard time figuring out the brand, the machine shop that built them for me used them all the time!
I beat the crap out of that 355 for 10 years, the heads always did their job! Sorry to hear about the friend, and hopefully you can get something out of them.
Put them out there for $500 and see what happens. I don't think there is a big market for heads that big in steel. 220 head on a small block is a pretty healthy little motor, or a 6000 rpm 400+ inch engine. And with todays availability, you may be hard pressed to get rid of them for a high number.

Kind of my thoughts. The seem better suited for a 'healthy' small block vs. a stocker & C-list limits the local market reach. I had a guy buy some wheels & a pair of drag radials (also from that friend). He asked about them but I didn't know any details (other than they were not stockers). I threw out a couple hundred bucks number & he said he would pass the info along.

Just wanted to get a better feel before I listed them on C-list. He had Dart Iron Eagle 200's on the 406 I also got & I'll prob list them as well.

Thanks.
 
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lilbowtie

Comic Book Super Hero
Jan 7, 2006
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A pic of the condition they are in - and how much work did he do on the ports would help. As stated they are for a racer and not aluminum limiting buyers.
 

scoti

Royal Smart Person
Sep 5, 2019
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Texas
A pic of the condition they are in - and how much work did he do on the ports would help. As stated they are for a racer and not aluminum limiting buyers.
I took some generic pics previously for when I was trying to ID them but don't have any from the port view. I'll have to get some from that angle after work.
 

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Clarmo

Master Mechanic
Jan 29, 2016
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They actually look pretty good to me.
Just because they are not aluminum or don't have a fancy CNC porting job doesn't mean they aren't worth anything. I have an old set World Products Sportsman iron heads on my Malibu and it runs strong!
If you don't get at least 500 just keep them on the shelf. You never know what you'll build in the future!
 
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scoti

Royal Smart Person
Sep 5, 2019
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Texas
They actually look pretty good to me.
Just because they are not aluminum or don't have a fancy CNC porting job doesn't mean they aren't worth anything. I have an old set World Products Sportsman iron heads on my Malibu and it runs strong!
If you don't get at least 500 just keep them on the shelf. You never know what you'll build in the future!
Yeah.... That's the issue. I have so much stuff sitting on shelves it's getting out of hand to the point where it impedes work space. If I had a good working relationship w/a local machinist I might be inclined to hang on to them but the guy I've used previously isn't doing as much stuff anymore so I figured I would just move them along.
 
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