Quote:
Originally Posted by benzguy300
I just pulled today a #17 head I checked and has no visual cracks like you said in between the valves so do I still need to get check at a machine shop ?
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If you want to be certain it has no problems, then yes. That's up to you at the end of the day though.
I won't reinstall 603 heads of any variety unless I've gone through them completely. I just about always end up having to replace valve guides on them. I'm not a fan of doing jobs twice/thrice/etc when I'm only getting paid to do them once, so I go through them regardless
Check for straightness, lap the valves, throw some seals at it, and send it if it looks good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter4
What's involved, timewise and expense, of doing a combustion leak test? Is it fairly definitive?
So you think the informal pressure test (checking the hoses in the morning) is inconclusive?
do you think the concern about the #14 head is unjustified?
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You can buy the kit from harbor freight for less than $30 and do it yourself. Doesn't take long. Time and expense depends on who's doing the work. It's a very good test in determining if combustion gases of any variety are in the coolant. If there are none, it won't change color. It's about the least labor intensive test beyond squeezing the hose in the morning, but it
CONFIRMS a problem for you.
I'm not going to tell you it's inconclusive, it's AN indicator of a
potential problem? All you know is the hose is hard and can only
assume combustion gases are entering the cooling system.
You can also pull prechambers and with a good borescope take a peek up and check for cracking as well, a bit unnecessary on the labor front, but won't tell you if a gasket is bad should cracks be missing.
#14 heads have problems. It's not an "if" they'll have problems, it's "when" they'll have problems. If you have a good machinist and mechanic who knows what they're doing, you'll be running your #14 head without issues for the life of the vehicle. Quite a few members on this forum have been running my welded 14's for years (one of which has somehow already added another 200k miles since the job was done, no issues).