King Headz Traxxas 2.5 Head

Testing and Final Thoughts

The King Headz head for the Traxxas 2.5 is a very well designed, and lightweight, aftermarket head. While it weighs slightly more than the stock head, it's provides more cooling for those people with a heavier trigger finger. Out of all of the aftermarket 2.5 heads I've seen, this one weighs less than any of them.

I saw an overall temperature drop of around 40°. Where I had been running around 250-260°, I experienced around 210-220° with this head installed. I could have leaned the motor slightly, which would have provided a small increase in power as I had a good smoke trail. However I like to play it conservative, and since the motor was making plenty of power I left the settings on the conservative side. So if you have a heavy trigger finger, you can see that this head can help provide some extra cooling that the stock head can't. Keep in mind however, as I talked about earlier, a larger head is not a substitute for proper tuning. Even with the larger head, an improperly tuned motor can suffer from a quickly worn out piston and sleeve.

The King Headz piece head looks as good as it performs. It quickly catches ones eye with it's polished finish. The finish though can cause some difficulty when tuning that you should account for. A shiny surface can make temperature readings erratic. So make sure to move the temperature gauge around for the highest reading if you are using an infra-red gauge. I found I obtained my best readings by placing the gauge against the head while pointing the sensor into the area where the glow plug resides, basically allowing no light into the area.

The only shortcoming I see for this head, is the fact that it doesn't have a replaceable protection ring like the stock head does. In this situation, most people use a few zip ties to help protect the motor head. However with it's low profile, and a few zip ties for extra protection, it came out unscathed from any of the crashes and flips I dealt it's way once it had been installed. Even though I like to see a more open area around the glow plug hole, I don't really consider that a shortcoming of this head. It's designed to be a small, lightweight alternative to the stock head, but yet provide better cooling capabilities. That's something it does well.

At only $55 this head is priced a little higher than some heads on the market. However for that you get a polished finish, and near-stock weight. It's a good choice for a racer due to the weight, as it helps maintain a stock center of gravity and racers like to add as little weight as possible. So the price range is well suited for this particular head in my opinion.

Durability 8 Fit 10 Looks 9 Quality 10 Value 10

Overall Score 9.4

Rants	Raves

No Replaceable Head Protector

Provides Lower Operating Temperatures Lightweight Looks Good

Reviewed 12.02.2003