Maybe engine size is part of this, there are many Jims 120 builds on both Latus and T-Mans web sites that are making great torque and horsepower, these come with some version of SE head with increased compression and most with T-Man 650 cams.

 

It is absolutely possible to use HD heads and get good results. The HQ 120" builds that I know of are all producing over 150 tq using HD heads reworked by Headquarters. I think the point being made here is that to buy a HD "high performace head" and then spend additional monies to get them to work right with your build is throwing money away. Have your stock heads redone at a reputable shop and you are better off in the long run.

 

After nothing less than absolute wheel-pulling results, I must confess my total satisfaction with HD SE Hi-PO heads. Granted, there are aspects of these heads requiring improvement, but compared with the machining requred vs. stock heads machining, I'm comfortable with my machinists's opinions. His recommendations involved HD stock heads vs. SE heads to result in optimum performance for the ($) buck. Nearly 103 HP out of a 95" mill is super, IMHO. He can be contacted at Henderson Performance of San Diego, CA. I stand by his recommendations. The tuner was Lees Cycle of San Diego, CA. and I stand by their tune.

 

Everyone is talking about cost to power gains when it comes to SE heads. What if I tell you that I can get a new set of SE MCR heads with porting & blueprinting from one of the famous shops for about $900/- is it still not worth it?

 

As I stated before the MCR heads are decent and when blueprinted have the potential to work very well. Worth it? Well you're the judge of that and the context of the whole build would need to be examined.