Hey guys, I was wondering for those of you who bought used heads if you installed them as is or did you have work put in them to freshen them up? If you did the latter were the savings eaten up for labor and parts ect?
Not only did i buy used heads, but i bought 40 year old stock used heads. Probably about 8 years ago or something like that, a friend of mine sold me my heads. He told me he got them off a guy in South Carolina who was running them on a "600hp dirt modified car". He likes to talk so i never believed that part, but they did have some extensive port work done to them and 1.94/1.60 valves installed. The catch was that each head had a bent exhaust valve and would need replaced. I gave him $250 for them and they sat in my closet for years. I eventually got the valves all replaced which cost me another $450, but the machine shop guy commented me on the port work and said he hadn't seen hand porting like that in years so that was reassuring.
In the end, they did make respectable power. The guy who did my tune was pretty impressed and even showed me where he had dynoed other cars with aftermarket heads that made less power than my car did. The moral of the story is that i've now spent $700 to be able to use these heads, and for that much you could easily get some very nice used Twisted Wedge heads or something comparable that should make as much power plus be able to be ported further and make even more, plus drop 50lbs off the front of the car.
So as far as buying used, just be sure of what you're buying. I didn't expect to have to replace all the valves, but upon further inspection there were more than just the two valves bent. If they came off a known well running car, i'd just install them and go with it.
You maybe be more of the exception than the rule. I don't think there are a lot of heads going for $250, more so in the area of like $800 it seems. Then $300 later to get them freshend up you're at $1100
You maybe be more of the exception than the rule. I don't think there are a lot of heads going for $250, more so in the area of like $800 it seems. Then $300 later to get them freshend up you're at $1100
Well i'm looking at it as a total cost, i have $700 into my heads to be able to bolt them on and go. If you can get used aluminum heads for $700 off a car that you know was running good when they came off, i'd bolt them on and go. Most guys aren't putting high mileage on aftermarket heads, or at least not enough to justify rebuilding them IMO. Our local car forum classifieds have aluminum heads for $500-700 all the time, you just have to have the cash ready when they're available cause they sell fast.
Yeah i guess that's the advantage of buying locally off a local classifieds. If it were me i'd probably at least check the valves out to see if they were bent and check out the guides. Heads aren't hard to take apart on your own and save yourself a bunch of labor.
My Performer heads were used with RRs installed. I did nothing to them but ensure that the mating surfaces and rockers/installation looked OK. Never had any issues. I think they cost me $850 in total, FWIW.
Picked up my heads from a guy who sent me a video of the last time he ran them. On a car doing a wheel stand halfway down the track. So yeah they were put to some serious use but all-in-all probably have 30-40 miles on them. So it means a lot but it means very little. Everything checked out great on them and they'll be going straight onto the motor in my coupe. Just have patience and pick up a set from someone you're comfortable with.