Have read a bunch of posts on DOA studs...sounds like they are crap. I emailed DOA about their turnkey heads and got this response. Tell me what you guys think.

975.00 for the pair, exchanged. Acid bathed, thickness matched, ported, polished, nitride valves, bronze guides, viton seals, 2 angle valve job, surface, assembled and ready to bolt on.

Good deal? I know the remanufactured heads are like $350 a piece.

 

DOA form what i have heard is ok... there used to be some problems with stuff not working and lousy customer service as its only one guy..... but i have heard its pretty decent now... not to steer you away from doa, but check out www.engnbldr.com he is a member here and his stuff is also top notch... he even talks about doa in my thread about timing chain guides here on this site

 

I did read into a few threads saying their porting wasn't that spectacular neither. I have checked out some of engine builders prices and he is known pretty well for a great rep. I am looking at getting some assembled heads that are a little improvement over stock but I don't want to go too far. I know I will have to go with more mods rather than head porting because of the increased air flow and will have to compensate with more fuel delivery and thats something I definately don't want to do. Maybe add some headers with the setup.

 

you should check with a local machine shop and see what they would charge...buy some O/S valves from engnbldr I'm pretty sure my heads werent that much and that was to have em cleaned, shaved, machined, 3 angle valve job, os valves installed all new seals bronze guides etc. and ready to bolt back on.

 

Stay away from DOA. Someone on this board bought their turnkey heads and they ended up having regular sized vavles instead of the advertised oversized. From what I've read, the customer service is a joke too. I came dangerously close to giving DOA my money during my top end rebuild. I am sooo glad I didn't. Talk to Engnbldr.

 

An advertised P&P with only a 2 angle valve job? I would be looking somewhere else...

 

Guess DOA is out...

 

I have never met Tim but I have talked to him on the phone and email chatted, he seems very nice and he IS very knowledgable. I do know that his stuff is danged hard to keep up with on the racetracks, we have customers trying to do that with the 22R Mini-stock classes.

I will simply say this, he has my respect, and will say that having had his work in my hands that he can work for me anytime.

I would like to think he would say the same about me except for the fact that I am so old and lazy.....

There really isn't any business competition between us much, he is way over on the other side of the country. I would bolt his heads on any of my son's short blocks and be completely unconcerned.

As far as failures? Heck, I have had folks blow up my stuff, too. Way it goes sometimes, fix it and go on....*EB

 

Now there is a guy who isn't out to just sell his own product. engnbldr, I give you props for giving that kind of a review of someone who you could possibly lose some business to. Not something that you see to often these days.

 

This is an example why I like this board...noone is in heavy competition and conceited about their business. To me its the best way to go about it because if you put another business down then that means you are either jealous or lacking something in yours.

 

For me personally, I'd rather deal with a local machine shop. That way if there are problems you can go deal with them in person. It's so much easier than trying to take care of things over the phone or by email. Not to mention shipping costs and shipping time. Furthermore, any large metro area should have a machine shop that can give you a quality product - unless of course, you're looking to do some racing or other serious competition. Then I would start thinking about a specialty machine shop.

 

Yeh I just made a call to a racing engine place here locally and am waiting on him to call me back. He is listed under machine shop work too so I guess I'll see when he calls. I'll more than likely buy some stuff from engine builder then have him install it.

 

I was going to make a long drawn out post but I think I will just say some lessons in life are just more expensive than others.


After $1200 to DOA racing and 8k miles to watch them self destruct. I took my heads to a local fellow Rob Louthan and had better work done with EB's valves for $750.

For what its worth it turns out that it was Tim's own reground cams that beat his turn key heads to death in 8k miles. The turn key heads where set up by him using his own cam grinds all I did was bolt them on. The cams had the intake lobes cut too steep and they beat the intake valves into the heads.

If you really want to send your heads out for some work send them to EB or Rob.

 

Thanks Ganoid...seems like democracy rules against DOA....maybe one of these days he will get it straight or pay a little more attention to what he is doing because it sounds like he has a lack of attention to detail