Can These Be Repaired ????
 

I need professional help.... Well, and my heads need to be examined... So does anyone with any aluminum head repair experience think these can be repaired? And if so what should it cost?


Thanks Anthony

That explains your other thread.

Yes it does, doesn't it... Actually not as bad as they appear, just bad lighting. Not really

I've seen some pretty messed up aluminum heads repaired. However, and this is just my opinion, I wouldnt mess with those. While the deck surfaces can be welded up, milled, and look good, the question is, how extensive is the corrosion inside the water jackets? Who really knows. But one of the pro's might be able to offer some better insight on this.

Maybe if they were some CNC Dart, Brodix, AFR heads, I'd consider looking into the repair procedures. The edelbrocks', ehh, not so much. By the time you get done repairing them, rebuilding them, I just dont think it be worth it.

1st pic - is that lobstaahhh in the water jacket ? LOL.

Yes you can repair, but it most likely will not last.

Try cleaning that chit up and posting another pic.

Media blast with glass beads probably your best bet

Yes very easily.. But are they good enough head to waste time with. Hell you can buy a decent set now new for 900 a pair with all new stuff. I can't think of the name of them so let me look it up. Competition products sells them and so does jegs. Performance something or other.

Are you running in salt or brackish water? If so, I would not dream of running aluminum heads unless they were hard anodized.

No mechanic here butt.... I would be concerned about what the conditions are of areas of passages you can't see.

How does the intake water passage look? It might not be that bad to weld them and mill them. The only reason the deck is so bad dissimilar metal caused electrolysis.

doorstop material...you can only repair what you can see and what you can't will get you....

The deck surface is not hard anodized and this still happens.

Yes the heads can be repaired. I have seen worse; than this. I see the jelly in the port and what is the reddish tint? I take it; the engines were not flushed out after use, nor was a neutralizer used? Where you also; using a Cometic gasket? If so; Alum/stainless/iron/water or saltwater, is going to give you the perfect; corrosion situation.

Depending; on what you have invested; in these heads, will determine the offset for the repair cost. You need to find someone; that is an experienced welder on alum. Breakdown heads, get a die grinder, first get them cleaned up, some type of alum cleaner or a mixture of water and muriatic acid. I would; pre clean the corrosion off the areas to be welded than leave the rest up to the welder. You can use a new gasket as a templet for correcting the bad areas. Insure the welder, knows they must be preheated before welding. Question; him of this process first, if he doesn't know of preheat, pick-up your stuff and keep looking.
The water jacket holes, need not to be perfect, in shape. They need to be free on any voids or porosities in the sealing area of the combustion chamber and water jacket. The heads will need surfaced after wards along with a valve job. If you go back with a Cometic gasket, the surface is going to be critical with the finish and or any voids in the area of the raised surfaces on the gasket, which seals the water ports and combustion chambers.

closed cooling system?

Ok so after speaking with a few local shops I decided to fix these heads. We used a bore scope to check as much of the ports internally as we could see and they looked fine. I had these heads milled .060 and port matched and flowed during the original build. New I was looking at over 2000.00 for a set without the work. So for the 650.00 I decided to just repair these heads and reinstall. Just where the head met the block was really bad. So they were blasted, ground out, cleaned, then pre heated and welded. They then decked the heads and final weld and decked again. Im very happy the way they came out. We also did new tool steel springs and a valve job. Now my question is...I used ARP head bolts originally on this build. Had the heads off once before for a freshen and now they are off again. Can I reuse the head bolts for a third time or replace them?

Thanks Anthony

I've had heads off and on more in one day and reused the bolts and gaskets with no problem.

I thought the big deal with ARP bolts is that they are reusable, I think I saw that in one of their ads, I've re-used mine. My engine builder recommends spraying MLS gaskets with copper gasket sealer. I actually take the rivets out on side of the gasket and spray between the layers as well. It improves sealing and reduces electrolysis.

if the bolt holes go into the water jacket the head bolts are usually ate up.if blind holes the bolts can be reused.

Ahhh. Copper and aluminum do not like each other at all. If you insist on using a sealer (I use rtv around the water holes) I would use an aviation sealer.

the arp's seem to get eaten right to the bottom of the threads.I've done both,new and reused them.new ended up like the ones I replaced in 1 season.now those oem bolts seem to take it,corrosion wise.

I hope the hammered the weld down before these decked it.makes the weld hard to match the surrounding surface.
as for your heads,,they look new compared to the afr 315 cnc'd ones I got for myself.I'm figuring alot of welding rod.I'll take some pics today to make you feel better about your heads.

My experience with reusing ARP head bolts was not positive - had one break during final torque sequence, so I had to pull the head to get the broken bolt out. Cost me a new head gasket (FelPro). For $50, I would get new head bolts. Or switch to head studs for better, more even clamping force on those aluminum heads. JMO.

ARP bolts with no corrosion (use a jeweler's loupe), then reuse them. If you see any visible pitting or spalling, don't use them.
Weld up the head? Sure, you can just about MAKE a head out of weld, but you have to grind away any compromised material before you weld, else the weld will not be strong. Yes, peen the welds before decking.

best wishes.

Did you check the other engine, almost worth pulling it now that one is apart.