Lou C
Supreme Mariner
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2002
- Messages
- 13,178
I've posted these pix a few times but in case you never saw them....from 8 years ago.....
starboard head removal:
cleaning up the old block:
reman cylinder heads purchased from a local speed shop, $550 for the pair:
reman heads installed:
overall not a hard job, what took the longest was cleaning the block deck surface so I could inspect it (took high resolution pix to show the machinist) and cleaning out all the cyl head bolt holes, and cleaning them with a thread chaser. You want to make sure that all of your cyl head bolts will easily thread in all the way, so you get accurate torque readings. With raw water cooling it is common for there to be crud in the bottom of the bolt holes.
I had the heads inspected at a local speed shop/machine shop and they found cracks, and eroded cooling passages from salt water use and they felt I would be better off buying a set of reman heads, so that's what I did. I used Fel/Pro marine head gaskets and ARP cyl head bolts as the old ones were really corroded. The main things are a good inspection and to get the deck surface clean, clean, clean and also check for flatness and level with a mechanic's straight edge and feeler gauges (less than .003" variation). Total cost for the engine parts was about $800 and I also converted to a new center riser style exhaust at the same time, that was about $1200. So for about 2 grand back on the water, and learned a fair amount in the process.
starboard head removal:
cleaning up the old block:
reman cylinder heads purchased from a local speed shop, $550 for the pair:
reman heads installed:
overall not a hard job, what took the longest was cleaning the block deck surface so I could inspect it (took high resolution pix to show the machinist) and cleaning out all the cyl head bolt holes, and cleaning them with a thread chaser. You want to make sure that all of your cyl head bolts will easily thread in all the way, so you get accurate torque readings. With raw water cooling it is common for there to be crud in the bottom of the bolt holes.
I had the heads inspected at a local speed shop/machine shop and they found cracks, and eroded cooling passages from salt water use and they felt I would be better off buying a set of reman heads, so that's what I did. I used Fel/Pro marine head gaskets and ARP cyl head bolts as the old ones were really corroded. The main things are a good inspection and to get the deck surface clean, clean, clean and also check for flatness and level with a mechanic's straight edge and feeler gauges (less than .003" variation). Total cost for the engine parts was about $800 and I also converted to a new center riser style exhaust at the same time, that was about $1200. So for about 2 grand back on the water, and learned a fair amount in the process.