QUOTE(lonewolfe @ Mar 11 2014, 09:38 PM)
Here's another option for brand new heads for considerably less money than the others you mentioned. Now, I know that the HAM heads are fantastic by all accounts but they are also super expensive. DRD Racing Heads is well known and has a very good reputation in the VW world so I would consider them as another good option for a Type IV motor. They've been around for years. Like HAM, these heads are based on brand new AMC castings from Spain.
http://www.drdracingheads.com/xcart/Type-4...-and-Parts.htmlYou are not comparing apples to apples. The heads that you linked are nothing more than new AMC castings using AMC hardware, valves, seats and guides.
The quality of those components is sub-marginal and routinely fail. The "Expensive HAM Heads" feature all upgraded hardware, to include valve seats. The AMC heads that HAM creates are basically "reconstructed" right out of the box, hence their costs.
I have had AMC supplied hardware fail, and when it occurred we stopped using it altogether and replaced the components with our own/ HAM. Last year we literally threw away two 55 gallon drums of valves, springs and etc from new AMC heads that were pulled to be replaced. The castings are great, the hardware is horrible.
I just wanted to set the record straight and point out that the comparison wasn't accurate at all. I will also state that I have worked with DRD and the very first pair of T4 heads they ever created were for me. I am speaking from experience from both providers.
You will get exactly what you pay for.... Or it may take you a year to get something that you were promised in two weeks or months, or you may never receive what you bought at all. Google is your friend.