Has anyone tried fitting an Edelbrock aluminum 4.0 head on a stock 258 bottom end? I have a big cam, roller rockers, clifford eagle headers, and a single plane four barrel intake manifold or possible a lead on the triple weber dcoe 45s (which I may do just because I like it). I am trying to find the best head for my build. The bottom end is going to be left stock for now. I'm not interested in anything 505 performance after having to deal with them. I'm not sure about Clearwater Cylinder head's performance heads, the're priced well but they do not seem to have a great reputation on the BBB website. Newcomer racing builds nice heads and is top work but they are expensive (I could swing this but if I can get similar results for cheaper, that's what I'll do). Newcomer even praises the Edelbrock head as a nice unit especially for non-stroker or non-forced induction engines. I am curious to find out what the community thinks. So this is really a two part question, first has anyone fitted an Edelbrock aluminum 4.0 head on a 258 and has it been worth it and second if it isn't which head is the best bang for the buck?
As Eagle numbers were relatively small, you'll likely find a lot more upgrades were done on the 258 in other vehicles, like Jeeps. Jeep forums are likely your best bet. Google.
What I would question is what is the goal of your upgrades. Are you just upgrading what you can because you can, or do you have a hp, torque or curve that you expect to get out of it for on-road or off-road. Is this your end target or a step on the way to a stroker.
One of the things I've seen mentioned a lot, is people putting a carb on that has too much flow, giving them little more performance, sometimes not running well, and costing a lot more in fuel at lower rpm. And at some point, you'll need to widen the exhaust: the air can't get in fast enough, if the air inside can't get out fast enough. One rule of thumb I was given for head/cam/carb upgrades was go to 2.25" exhaust for most upgrades, with 2.5" being of no or questionable benefit due to the limits of the engine.
I've scoured the jeep forums and the conversation keeps going to "why stick with the 258 when better 4.0 swaps, strokers, or V8 swaps are out there". The Eagle community is more sympathetic to why I stick with the 258 block, the front diff mounting points (although I know I can work around them, I don't want to). So I figured I would ask the Eagle community. No real hp or torque goals, just better performance to go with all my other Eagle SX4 upgrades. I'm limited to about 250 ft/lbs at my trans/transfer case combo anyway. Trans is a rebuilt jeep T5 and transfer case is an AWD NP119.
Newcomer also discussed the edelbrock 4.0L head. Apparently it is better than a fully ported factory 4.0L head.
https://www.edelbrock.com/performer-jeep-4-0l-cylinder-head-50169.html
Quadratec Has them. https://www.quadratec.com/products/51108_200X_PG.htm?utm_id=bi_cmp-371475252_adg-1224856113670512_ad-76553588314752_pla-4580153130792568_dev-t_ext-_prd-219461&msclkid=a968a7b26a2d14522f2bf83470042fc1&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping%20%7C%20NB%20%7C%20Jeep%20Engine%20Fuel%20%26%20System&utm_term=4580153130792568&utm_content=Jeep%20Engine%20%26%20Fuel%20System%20%7C%20Block%20Internals%20%7C%20Edelbrock