(read before voting) salvage yard heads - what should I do?

**phillysrt4** · 05-27-2008, 07:42 PM

I picked up some aluminum v6 split port heads from a salvage yard along with the upper and lower intake. They seemed in pretty good shape (only 98k miles on it) and I suspect a bottom end engine failure (no indication of blown gaskets nor accident damage.

The heads seemed in pretty good shape- only a minor amount of sludge in them that seems to be easily cleaned, and a minor bit of corrosion at the valve seals that I know will come off with some ATF fluid (its just surface rust on 2 valve seats). THe rockers, springs, and valves appear to be in good shape except for one which was a little tight coming out but may have been due to deposits as opposed to bent valves (havent cleaned anything yet).

So I guess my question is this: Since the first phase of my project car is just to get it up and running in normally aspirated mode powered by megasquirt, am I ok giving it a thorough cleaning by hand, get a new set of rods (and possibly lifters) and do the swap now while the car is still being assembled electronically, or should I do "the 9 yards" and get them cleaned, beaded, crack checked, etc before putting them on.

the car will have some downtime involved when the turbos go on which means if I wanted to have them checked and upgraded at that point there would be time to do so. The cost of a gasket set to me is not a major expense so Id be willing to do it that way if people think the heads as-is might be okay to use.

When i took them off, I untorqued "out to in" to try and minimize warping of the head, going in a spiral pattern around the head removing bolts.

Vote and comment.

Thanks for the input.

**speedracer** · 05-27-2008, 07:45 PM

Getting any head checked is money and time well spent.

**phillysrt4** · 05-27-2008, 07:46 PM

wow you ninja'd before the poll was done lol!

**speedracer** · 05-27-2008, 07:48 PM

Originally Posted by phillysrt4

wow you ninja'd before the poll was done lol!

I was looking for it...

**PSPstang** · 05-27-2008, 08:33 PM

i would have them checked to be 100% safe.
with buying used mechanical stuff, you always run the chance of something happening.

**HidalgoGT** · 05-27-2008, 09:04 PM

I agree checked would take care of any problems or guess work once they are on and you begin the tuneing.

**phillysrt4** · 05-28-2008, 08:37 PM

well with a resounding 12-1 vote so far looks like I'm going to get it up and running in singleport mode, then swap to split port for the tuning part.