I found a set of low mileage used patriot performance stage 2 heads for $700. First off does this seem like a good price? Second off I only have basic bolt on's bbk pullies, off road x-pipe, catback, cold air intake, 4.10's, king cobra clutch, triax short shifter. Ive been trying to sell my car to upgrade to a mach 1 or cobra but have had no luck. My question is if I bought these heads, a decent cam, Pi intake or bullit intake, plus all the misc. parts gaskets and such needed to do the swap what kind of price am I looking at? Less than $2000 in parts? Also how much would be a fair price to get these parts installed at a shop? Would I be near or at 300rwhp? If I decide to do this I would be piecing it together over the course of the next year and hopefully installed next summer. My car has a 125k miles on it but still runs strong. My other option is sell my car for what seems like nothing $4500-$5000 if im lucky and save for a 4valve cobra or mach 1. What would you guys/gals do? Please respond quick so I can make a move on these heads if need be.
Patriot stage 2 heads
- Thread starter tjfusion
- Start date
jexey
Member
It all depends on your goals dude. With a naturally aspirated motor you wont see much over 325. However, to get there you MUST do every bolt on you can imagine to include heads. Patriot heads are a great product and your car will be way snappier then it was before the swap and with aftermarket cams it'll be an entirely new car, however you'll still get passed by a lot of stock luxury cars and new age muscle cars.
I did my whole swap, slapped every bolt on I could imagine and now i'm ripping down, parting out and saving for a boosted motor. That being said, it's all about the platform you start at. If you can control your spending and flip your car you could snag a modded cobra if you shop for a long time (i'm talking months) and be in the 500 club with a negligible amount of more money.
I did my whole swap, slapped every bolt on I could imagine and now i'm ripping down, parting out and saving for a boosted motor. That being said, it's all about the platform you start at. If you can control your spending and flip your car you could snag a modded cobra if you shop for a long time (i'm talking months) and be in the 500 club with a negligible amount of more money.
jexey
Member
Oh and for the H/C/I swap you should be able to pull it off for under 1500 or 2000, but it's a hell of a lot of work and the learning curve is horrendous if you do it by yourself. A shop will do a great job but they will charge an arm and a leg. Ask them how much it would be to replace two head gaskets (the equivalent amount of work) and you should have your pricing.
Thanks for the information, Its really a hard choice. In my area ive been having trouble getting even $5,000 for my car, my saleen rims and tires were $1500 alone and thats cause I found a deal, not to mention all the other parts that are on the car. I can pick up a 99 cobra for about $8500 in my area (there is one im looking at with 100k miles but some nice bolt on's) I had offers for $5k when I first listed and rejected hoping for more but now I should have taken those offers o' well. My goal is to run mid 12's on motor then maybe spray 100 shot and be in the high 11's if possible? One of my goals would be to be able to hang with an 03 vette auto ( my father in law's) lol. His car should run low 13's
DropTopPony
Post Whore
First thing I would do is get more info on those Patriot heads. They had some serious issues a few years back with quality control and a lot of bad heads made it out onto the market. Poor machine work, guides etc. You couldn't give those things away for a few years.
If they check out ok, combined with a PI Intake and better cams you will easily be in the 12's on engine if you can drive and get traction etc. You will need a tune.
If they check out ok, combined with a PI Intake and better cams you will easily be in the 12's on engine if you can drive and get traction etc. You will need a tune.
twovalveterror
Active Member
I've talked to a couple of guys with the patriot heads. I think you'd be hard pressed to find actual instances of them failing. just a lot of bad press spread by word of mouth, people repeat what they don't understand. everyone I've talked to likes them. then again, I'm just going by the word of mouth I just discredited two sentences ago!
the rumor I heard that made me back away from a set a couple years back was that the valve guides were prone to failure. if they are low mileage and you trust the source, I wouldn't hesitate to run them.
MustangChris
Mythic Level
ive personally met two guys with patriot heads. one had nothing but good things to say, the other blew his motor on start-up. . ... ... this was long before I knew much about cars, but I have met one person who said that patriot heads totally ****ed him.
i would personally avoid Patriot, as you can easily find a set of PI heads and have them ported yourself. or you can go with trick flow for aftermarket and a host of other locations for machined PIs.
i would personally avoid Patriot, as you can easily find a set of PI heads and have them ported yourself. or you can go with trick flow for aftermarket and a host of other locations for machined PIs.
twovalveterror
Active Member
what was the cause of the blown motor? anything to hint that it was the patriot heads that were at fault?
paying a shop to port can be expensive, and the results are unknown. if he decides to stay away from patriot, there are a couple other proven heads he could look at for not much more cash.
edit: I did not read your comment fully. sorry!
paying a shop to port can be expensive, and the results are unknown. if he decides to stay away from patriot, there are a couple other proven heads he could look at for not much more cash.
edit: I did not read your comment fully. sorry!
MustangChris
Mythic Level
i was 17 looking into doing a head swap myself at the time. the terminology was too far over my head. I honestly couldnt tell you.
and i agree, paying a shot to do port work can be pricey. but a port job + cleaning can be cost effective if you go to a "mass-quantity" shop that just has these programs cranking out heads all day long.
and i agree, paying a shot to do port work can be pricey. but a port job + cleaning can be cost effective if you go to a "mass-quantity" shop that just has these programs cranking out heads all day long.
DropTopPony
Post Whore
They existed, there were several guys who used to post on Corral and MD etc that bought bad heads from Patriot and posted pics and complaint threads. And guys like Nick @ MHS used to post picks of heads he repaired and said he stopped taking Patriot heads to repair since they were usually really bad.
I built my 2v some what like this one I used powerheads.com for my heads if I was gunna do it again I would have used patriot performance stage 2 heads. I wish AFR would get into 2v heads.http://image.musclemustangfastfords.com/f/tech/mmfp_1011_1997_ford_4_6l_two_valve_engine_rebuild
DropTopPony
Post Whore
Why Patriot if you did it over? Fox Lake and the now out of business VT and Modular Powerhouse were the top 2V PI head porters. Fox Lake is still going strong with a reputation of the highest quality.
