Pro toplines vs. thumpers

[ALMOSTFINISHED]

I'm in the market for some heads for my current 302 to hold me over for a while until I finish the 331. If you had to choose which heads to go with, what would you choose? They will most likely be going with my TFS stage 1 cam. Thanks

Nick

 

[UnderPressureGT]

how could you compare the two?? they are both good for the money, and thumper does make some kick ass heads... but you're comparing a stock ported head to a head that flows near the same as AFR 185's... no comparision.... i would get the PTL's in a heartbeat.... I have them right now on my new motor; the aluminum 2.05/1.6 180cc heads that i picked up for 880 shipped... I cant say i have any problems with them.. My car is pretty damn quick..

 

[ms93gt]

how could you compare the two?? they are both good for the money, and thumper does make some kick ass heads... but you're comparing a stock ported head to a head that flows near the same as AFR 185's... no comparision.... i would get the PTL's in a heartbeat.... I have them right now on my new motor; the aluminum 2.05/1.6 180cc heads that i picked up for 880 shipped... I cant say i have any problems with them.. My car is pretty damn quick..

LOL well you can't compare protopline to afr either. Compareing them to world would be better.

 

[UnderPressureGT]

LOL well you can't compare protopline to afr either. Compareing them to world would be better.

whats the difference??? these heads either have a tad more flow or a tad less for each .100 lift compared to the afr's..

 

[ms93gt]

Well I dunno much about protoplines so maybe someone else will chime in but what I do know is that afr's are PROVEN to make power. Also I know protoplines weigh a lot and on there site it only shows what the intake flows. Wheres the exhaust? Afr's are the cream of the crop out of the box head, many many people use afr. If protopline were that good then everyone would be using them. When my 306 is finished undo your blower belt and we'll run motor vs motor and see which head is better.

 

[willys1]

880 shipped is really cheap!! I believe Thumpers are 595 and 695 with h/d springs!!

 

[dstanggt50]

I would take PTL over ported stockers.

 

[V8SHME8]

Well I dunno much about protoplines so maybe someone else will chime in but what I do know is that afr's are PROVEN to make power. Also I know protoplines weigh a lot and on there site it only shows what the intake flows. Wheres the exhaust? Afr's are the cream of the crop out of the box head, many many people use afr. If protopline were that good then everyone would be using them.

First off, you have a choice between aluminum and cast iron so weight is not the issue.

Protoplines 180cc
Lift .100 .200 .300 .400 .500 .600 .700
Intake 72 154 208 254 271 274 276
Exhaust 60 121 159 184 193 199 202

Get off the bandwagon man.

 

[ALMOSTFINISHED]

how could you compare the two?? they are both good for the money, and thumper does make some kick ass heads... but you're comparing a stock ported head to a head that flows near the same as AFR 185's... no comparision.... i would get the PTL's in a heartbeat.... I have them right now on my new motor; the aluminum 2.05/1.6 180cc heads that i picked up for 880 shipped... I cant say i have any problems with them.. My car is pretty damn quick..

Hmm. I didn't know they made aluminum heads. I was thinkin about the cast iron ones for comparison. $880 shipped is damn cheap. I think I'll take that route instead. Can you shoot me an email or post up here what site you got them from? Thanks for the responses guys.

Nick

 

[Curse]

Well I dunno much about protoplines so maybe someone else will chime in but what I do know is that afr's are PROVEN to make power. Also I know protoplines weigh a lot and on there site it only shows what the intake flows. Wheres the exhaust? Afr's are the cream of the crop out of the box head, many many people use afr. If protopline were that good then everyone would be using them. When my 306 is finished undo your blower belt and we'll run motor vs motor and see which head is better.

If you use the same parts everyone else is using, how are you supposed to out run them?

The PTL heads are awesome heads, and they flow almost what AFRs flow and they ARE NOT PORTED. Summit use to sell them, when I called to ask about the PTL, a guy at summit told me they were on backorder and that PTL was having problems filling the orders. Last I had heard they went out of business. So now finding the PTL heads is almost impossible.

 

[nosmatt]

i would say, good luck finding em!!!!!! the ptl's that is.


forget it, they are vaporware.


you can find the 200cc ones, bare at 950 a set, plus 300-400 in parts, then 150 in a valvejob.....be way better off with OOB z303 heads for the same price........or afr 185's......or alot of other heads!

 

[UnderPressureGT]

Well I dunno much about protoplines so maybe someone else will chime in but what I do know is that afr's are PROVEN to make power. Also I know protoplines weigh a lot and on there site it only shows what the intake flows. Wheres the exhaust? Afr's are the cream of the crop out of the box head, many many people use afr. If protopline were that good then everyone would be using them. When my 306 is finished undo your blower belt and we'll run motor vs motor and see which head is better.

bro these heads weigh next to nothing.. i compared it with a gt40x alum head and this one weighs a little less then the gt40x... I have aluminum, not cast iron..

just because AFR is a name people jerk off to, doesnt mean they are the OUTRIGHT BEST!.. sure, they are great heads, but for performance to price ratio, AFR is beat by a long shot!!

Also, you cant judge your 306 with mine by ANY means! You assumingly have a motor setup for NA.. Mine is setup for a blower.. of course youll probably dust me.. Is that because of the heads??? Absolutely not!.. My compression is near 8.8:1 and i have a cam setup right for a blower.. Not to mention my base timing is 10 and my plugs are 2 heat ranges cold with a .035 gap... No comparison bro.. My motor will run like a dog...


To the poster of this thread.... Go to www.protopline.com and go to the dealers page. i bought them from Jim at tristate cylinder heads... they MIGHT have a set left.... Word is that PTL went out of business and comp cams bought them over... supposibally DSS and some other place in MMFF has the alum ones but their priced at 1300 for the pair... good luck, maybe youll get lucky like me..

 

[90mustangGT]

Well, who's running pro-toplines and what are they running? I remember they first came out aka Jegster heads and there was all this hype, then people were having all kinds of problems with them and spent so much getting them fixed that TFS's or AFR's would have been a better deal. Then heard hardly nothing about them after that. Saw a few dyno's and I wasn't too impressed, but maby I was looking at the wrong one's. So who's running PTL's and how do they compare to AFR's and TFS's with otherwise similar combos?

I'm not bashing them, just straight up, lets put on the proof.

$880 is damn cheap, almost too cheap. That is usually what bare castings cost for most aluminum heads, and here these are fully assembled and such? So either someone is cutting corners or someone is just cutting a profit.

Thumper heads are as reliable as stock because that is what they really are, just ported. Factory reliable, won't mess them up unless something really goes wrong, and they are strong performers. I ran 8.4 at 85mph in the 1/8th with them launching from idle on a worn motor. Have TFS waiting to go on the new motor.

 

[Curse]

Well, who's running pro-toplines and what are they running? I remember they first came out aka Jegster heads and there was all this hype, then people were having all kinds of problems with them and spent so much getting them fixed that TFS's or AFR's would have been a better deal. Then heard hardly nothing about them after that. Saw a few dyno's and I wasn't too impressed, but maby I was looking at the wrong one's. So who's running PTL's and how do they compare to AFR's and TFS's with otherwise similar combos?

I'm not bashing them, just straight up, lets put on the proof.

$880 is damn cheap, almost too cheap. That is usually what bare castings cost for most aluminum heads, and here these are fully assembled and such? So either someone is cutting corners or someone is just cutting a profit.

Thumper heads are as reliable as stock because that is what they really are, just ported. Factory reliable, won't mess them up unless something really goes wrong, and they are strong performers. I ran 8.4 at 85mph in the 1/8th with them launching from idle on a worn motor. Have TFS waiting to go on the new motor.

There was a guy on here that tested the PTL independently, he had his own website. Anyone know who I am talking about? Had very impressive flow numbers.

 

[ms93gt]

Well curse if you claim they were so good but yet went out of business then it looks like they sucked. No "great" head will go out of business. Look at gt40's, tons of better heads but they're still selling like candy.

 

[90mustangGT]

There was a guy on here that tested the PTL independently, he had his own website. Anyone know who I am talking about? Had very impressive flow numbers.

Well, how did the car flow down the track? That's what I'm asking.

 

[Curse]

Well curse if you claim they were so good but yet went out of business then it looks like they sucked. No "great" head will go out of business. Look at gt40's, tons of better heads but they're still selling like candy.

Did it ever occur to you that there could be other reasons why a company can go out of business? Do a search on the web and see how well these heads were selling, the company could not keep up with the orders. And as far as gt40s selling like “candy” could it be that they are good flowing heads for little money

90mustangGT, I did not keep up with the article, but he was going to track test them. A lot of the Chevy guys were using these heads, when I was researching heads there was a ton of info on the PTL plus track times from the Chevy guys.

 

[UnderPressureGT]

I'm not bashing them, just straight up, lets put on the proof.

$880 is damn cheap, almost too cheap. That is usually what bare castings cost for most aluminum heads, and here these are fully assembled and such? So either someone is cutting corners or someone is just cutting a profit.

hey im not gonna complain that the price is too cheap.. better for me.. besides, 880 is only a little cheaper then what they normally go for... http://www.protopline.com/pricesproductlist.asp#ford_cyclone look.. they are 989 for the pair..

the machine shop who built my motor went over these heads and they needed not one bit of work done to them prior to installation..asides from that, the valve seals are great... The car doesnt burn an once of oil.... Dyno numbers will be available July 18th.. Laroccas is tuning the car most likely, unless i can get it done sooner...

 

[UnderPressureGT]

Well curse if you claim they were so good but yet went out of business then it looks like they sucked. No "great" head will go out of business. Look at gt40's, tons of better heads but they're still selling like candy.

soo just because they went out of business means that thewy are crap?? gimme a break.. Look at MAC.. They are a BIG name in the mustang aftermarket and MAC blows ass, quality and fit...

 

[ms93gt]

soo just because they went out of business means that thewy are crap?? gimme a break.. Look at MAC.. They are a BIG name in the mustang aftermarket and MAC blows ass, quality and fit...

Mac actually doesn't blow. I have not had one problem with them. And it's impossible to go out of business because you sell to much, lol, ever hear of limited production?