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So I thought I just got a decent deal on a set of 243 heads. Professionally cleaned, new valve guides, seals, 3 angle valve job, and milled .010, supposedly ready to bolt on for $440. I looked them over before I bought them, but it was dark outside and I missed one big detail. The water jacket ports are corroded, somewhat bad in some areas. Some of the ports have been "fixed" with JBweld. The problem is it seams to chip with a swift hit on a flathead screwdriver easily. I don't know how well it would hold up over time with hot coolant flowing through it. Other than the coolant ports, they seem perfect. The valves seal well, no stripped threads or broken bolts, the casting grooves have been smoothed out. I am just worried about putting these on my car.
Are they usable? Fixable? And if so is it worth it? I can get a used take off set of 243/799s from a Silverado for about $250. But then I will have to pay to have all the work done that these already have. I'm not even sure if I can sell these and make my money back or not if they are trashed.
JB is good to 500F, but like all adhesives is only as good as the preparation. That it knocks off perhaps too easily is a concern. That said, that surface doesn't look milled to me -- don't we usually see more of a fly-cutter sweep running across the entire surface in one sweep? And is the surface adequately smooth?
JB is good to 500F, but like all adhesives is only as good as the preparation. That it knocks off perhaps too easily is a concern. That said, that surface doesn't look milled to me -- don't we usually see more of a fly-cutter sweep running across the entire surface in one sweep? And is the surface adequately smooth?
It doesn't break off super easy. But a lot easier than I am comfortable with for sure. The seller claim they were milled .010, everything else he claimed seemed to check out, he was a nice guy and we talked for a couple hours. I'm inclined to believe him but I've been fooled before. The surface seems very smooth as far as I can tell. You can see where they repaired some small pits by filling it with jb weld and milling over it.
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looks like they were hit with a die grinder... I don't know what could have caused the pitting but there's no way I would run them like that with jb weld... if you plan to keep them I would at the very least have a machine shop look them over and see how much they would have to take off to get them smooth, if it's too much material then scrap them or use for parts
That almost looks like glass table figure 8 sandpaper flatening. I personally would not run them. There's too much much nicer stuff out there. JB weld has it's place but I wouldn't run it in a water jacket.
I would ask the "super nice guy" for a refund. When I sold a set of heads, I made sure you could eat off them. I can't believe someone would sell a set of heads using a filler to hide corrosion.
Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm definitely leaning towards getting rid of these things, even if I lose money. I don't want to do all of the work of a head/cam swap only to have it destroy something or at the very least have to do it again in a few months. Now my debate is whether I should buy a take off set of 243s for $250 and spend the money to have them cleaned and rebuilt, or go all out and get a set of ported PRC 2.5 5.3L heads. The PRCs would definitely delay my project a while but maybe it would be worth it?
Originally Posted by cuisinartvette
Dont look like surfacing marks to me? The HG ought to seal them just fine Id think. Do you have one available to hold up to the head?
I don't have one as of yet, I was planning on ordering some shortly.
We wouldnt install those unless our machine shop could mill them and clean surface up. If the pitting was too deep they would weld them before milling. Not worth the money at that point since 243's are cheap now.
We can get you setup with PRC 2.5 LS6 or 5.3 heads for a solid deal. Shoot a message to us if interested. Shouldn't delay much since they usually ship out quickly. By the time you pay a machine shop to build stock 243's you will end up with $900 stock heads...
Are these heads usable or trash?
