November 23, 200520 yr Kay, so got the valves out of both cylinder heads. There is a crack between the intake and exhaust ports of both combustion chambers. I have not had these pressure tested, but do you think this is bad??? Or can I live with this a little longer??? The only thing the car was doing b4 I started this head project was pressurizing the radiator, no white smoke, no black smoke, nothing unusual. I was told to "not worry" if I saw cracks, because this is normal :-\ . But to what extent do I START worrying??? Cyl. #1 Exhaust Cyl #1 Intake Cyl #3 Intake Cyl #3 Exhaust Pleeeeaaase tell me I'll be okay. I just want this to run for a year or so more BTW; the other head is not nearly as bad
November 23, 200520 yr The only one that looks really bad is #1 Exh. all the others look "normal" to me.
November 23, 200520 yr Once the crack extends past the valve seat into the port it will find the water jacket very soon... looks like #1 is already there and it will do just what you describe, pressurize the cooling system. Another risk (though I havent heard its a big problem with Subies) is the crack opening enough to drop the valve seat, then it will most likely cost you a piston too. Sorry Dude Gary
November 23, 200520 yr It looks like the crack starts between the seats and goes down into both runners. I really wouldn't use this head. You could definitely find something better in the junkyard.
November 23, 200520 yr Author Flippin Great! I've got $180 in Gasket Kits sitting here too. Anyone in the NW Washington area got a set of heads to sell??? I guess thats a different post...
November 23, 200520 yr If the junkyard option doesn't work out for you (or if they're in the same shape as yours), you might consider having it/them repaired. I know at least 1 shop in Spokane that repairs WAAAYYY worse head cracks & problems than that. That's really their whole business. I'm sure Seattle metro area has shops that do the same work. Good luck!
November 23, 200520 yr I had a shop repair a set of turbo heads. It was kind of pricey, but they did a good job. It was a shop out of Alabama, but I don't remember the name. Sorry if I discouraged you, man. I really didn't mean to.
November 23, 200520 yr i woudln't reuse that head without someone familiar with repairing cracks looks at it. those cracks in general are normal though...can't say i've pulled too many EA82 or ER27 heads without those cracks in them. i have them repaired all the time, an aluminum head specialist in my town is familiar with these heads and uses stitch pins and maybe some welding to fix them. they fix them all in the heads i give them. never seen any go all the way through like that one picture, i'd defintiely can that one myself just cause it's so scarry looking. but it's probably fixable.
November 24, 200520 yr i would say its on its way to being done, if you need a used head, contact me or post a message in the wanted ads here, im sure there are people with spares. ~Josh~
November 24, 200520 yr I'm running a pair of heads that are at least that bad right now. No leaks. From looking at another pair of heads that are worse than yours that I have, it looks like the cracks would have to go to the bottom of the port before they reach the water jacket. I have pressure tested these heads and they don't leak. That said, if you don't want to get back into this engine for some time then have them repaired and valve job done and resurfaced. Besides, engines just love fresh valve jobs.
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