Head Compatibility Question
 

I'm in the process of rebuilding engine #2 for my Formula 292. One of the heads on the engine are a bit rotted around the rear water jacket hole that stops at the intake. One head is fine the other is very thin around the intake bolt hole. I could have it welded, one guy said he JB welded a similar problem with good luck (not sure about that fix) any other suggestions? The other option I have is to use a good 990 head that I have, note- the other heads are 188's. From what I can find the 188 and the 990's have the same intake flow but the 990's have 6-7 cfm better exhaust flow. Would it be stupid to run a 990 and 188 on the same engine?

Here is another option, I found a set of new 088 heads near me, is there anyway I can run an 088 head on a Mark IV block?

Come on- Nobody has an opinion on this. I find that hard to believe.

fixx
 

you can have your head welded with nickel rod or you can braze it up with a torch and a brazing rod with hte white flux,then file it flat again..

perfect! thanks for the answer!

i have 2 sets of 088 heads for sale, and a guy that was intrested in them asked me the same question, will the 088 work on a gen iv block, so i checked with my engine builder, he told me the water passages are different and that they wont work....

fixx
 

what i would do first is get the torch out and heat up the rusty area to get all the elements out ,go to harbor freight and get some evaporust,stuff is killer on rust,,soak that portion on the head in the evaporust for about a hour,,too long and it will turn the cast iron black then you have to wire wheel it..next blast the head with hot water to remove the evaporust....reheat and let it cool again..now it ready to start welding or brazing..

I spent an hours reading on the web last night and it seems sometimes it works. However, I don't want to get my engines in the boat only to find out it doesn't then I have to scramble to find heads that do. It's to bad because there was a guy near me with a set of new 088's for $500.00. Oh well!

Thanks for the tips. I'll get on this, now that I know what to do.

There's no problem running Gen VI heads on a Gen IV as long as you use the right gasket. If you end up going this route let me know and I'll give you a part number.

Yes- let me know what gasket I need. For $500 for brand new heads I'd be a fool not to. I've read in some posts that you need to scribe the outline of the lifter valley so you can see how close the water jacket is. Is this so? If so, at what point is not enough overlap?

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=316022

Use a quality gasket correct to your block. Careful to check water passages near lifter valley. This is where you would get leakage.

so let me get this straight, you can use the 088 genvi heads, on a geniv block with the right gaskets, is that right Haxby speed....:evilb:

Yes, and depending on which Mark IV block you've got it's also a good time to convert it to parallel flow vs. series.

Haxby-
I picked up the heads today, what gasket do I need. From what I can tell my block has the three holes that are needed.

What's your bore size?

It's 4.25. Here is a picture of the deck as well... Yes, it's being resurfaced, dropped the block off at the Machine shop this morning when I picked up the heads.

Felpro 17042 will work fine and will give you parallel flow which the block is already set up for. :ernaehrung004:

Perfect and thanks for your help!

No problem, the spot that has the most trouble is the upper hole between 5 and 7. You can lay the head on the block with no gasket and mark the edge with a sharpie to make sure you're gonna have enough squish there before you put it all together. Never hurts to double check everything.

I'm looking at doing the same thing...088 on a 454 gen IV what exactly is needed, thanks Rob

If anyone interested, i have 2 pair of 088 heads in great shape had 230 hrs on them, ran fine just changed them out with aluminum....500 a set [email protected]

Hey Rob, if your blocks don't have the three lower holes like endeavor's do in the picture then it's set up for series cooling like most older blocks. You can use a Gen VI gasket as a template and drill your own to convert it, or just use a Mark IV gasket and leave it series cooled. On the older blocks there is one spot that is very close to the middle upper coolant passage in the 088 head but there's usually more then .125" which is more then enough unless you've got really chitty deck surfaces or the hole in the head is badly corroded. I just tried 3 different blocks in the shop and this one was the closest but still .115". Back in "ye olde" days it was quite common to put the 100cc chamber L29 Gen VI heads on older 454's to bump the compression, never had any issues even with steel shim gaskets.

Just an FYI for anyone thinking about doing this. I did exactly what the master of the Peanut Butter Ports said. And the 088's on a gen IV worked perfectly. Never had any leaks all summer long.