New Heads

[RedTruck]

There's a local kid selling a parts truck with a 6.9. He's the 4th owner and claims the engine has new heads with less than 5000 miles. The heads were installed by the second owner. Is there any indicators in terms of casting information that will indicate these are new heads?

Thanks,

Paul

 

[Agnem]

New heads are most likely chinese. I don't know if they have any chinese writing on them or not.

 

[RedTruck]

That's a good call.

This is a Minnesota pickup. I'm hopeful they would be Stillwater Casting heads.

 

[towcat]

New heads are most likely chinese. I don't know if they have any chinese writing on them or not.

mel-
there's no chinese writing cast into them.
btw...
the sourcing for the new heads is not only from china.
they were coming from New Zeland, India, Vietnam and there's some floating around now with a claim that they are of German mfg.`
problem is, I only have dealt with the 7.3 heads. I haven't seen any 6.9 heads.

 

[RedTruck]

For the longest time I thought Clearwater heads were cast in Clear Water MN. They are out of Florida and only import heads made out of country.

Calvin is correct at least as far as Clearwater is concerned. They only handle 7.3 heads. According to Clearwater, the only new heads available for a 6.9 are from the manufacturer.

Thanks!

Paul

 

[icanfixall]

Diesel Cast Welding in Minn. sells new offshore heads both bare and complete. They are the shop I bought my first set of new heads from. They were ruff especially in the ports but the head demension was 4.801 so that leaves plenty for and decking needed down the line. Those heads cracked when I blew out a freeze plug at 5200 mile. Russ (Typ4) has one of those heads with all the precup and port work. He was thinking about building a roller rocker arm setup and I hope he does. My old head was a test bed for that project. These offshore heads are better than the oem heads because the decks are thicker. Most will state the heads are thicker and heavier in "all the right places". That statement does nothing for me. I want factual places where the heads are built thicker. The "new" heads will run just fine right out of the box. I just like them to have a smooth flow path and any performance I get from that is just what I get. Barnett Performance will port these heads but... What they offer is worded funny. Stage 1 is only a partical port job on part of the ports. Stage 2 is all of stage 1 but more porting... Stages 3 is all of the above plus a 3 angle valve grind and a radius worked over. Mine are full porting and nothing is left out. I may buy one of the Barnett heads for comparision just so I can "see" what they do that I don't do. Without sounding bold I don't think they are doing as much as I'm doing but I will stand up and say I was wrong too. My newest set of heads have a differant exhaust port in them. It has a much better flow across the guide ares. Kinda looks like the inside curve of a small ball. It would seem to make for a much better exit flow path. It almost looks like the design of a pro stock head flow pattern. Maybe it will flow better than my current heads???

 

[RedTruck]

Thanks Gary.

I looked at the rig last night. It does look like some head work has been done, but he doesn't have any receipts to back up new heads. He's asking $500 for a non running engine. I tried to talk him into scrapping the pickup it's in and keeping the engine/tranny for another rig he has. I also told him about the OB, so hopefully we'll see him.

Paul

 

[RLDSL]

Diesel Cast Welding in Minn. sells new offshore heads both bare and complete. They are the shop I bought my first set of new heads from. They were ruff especially in the ports but the head demension was 4.801 so that leaves plenty for and decking needed down the line. Those heads cracked when I blew out a freeze plug at 5200 mile. Russ (Typ4) has one of those heads with all the precup and port work. He was thinking about building a roller rocker arm setup and I hope he does. My old head was a test bed for that project. These offshore heads are better than the oem heads because the decks are thicker. Most will state the heads are thicker and heavier in "all the right places". That statement does nothing for me. I want factual places where the heads are built thicker. The "new" heads will run just fine right out of the box. I just like them to have a smooth flow path and any performance I get from that is just what I get. Barnett Performance will port these heads but... What they offer is worded funny. Stage 1 is only a partical port job on part of the ports. Stage 2 is all of stage 1 but more porting... Stages 3 is all of the above plus a 3 angle valve grind and a radius worked over. Mine are full porting and nothing is left out. I may buy one of the Barnett heads for comparision just so I can "see" what they do that I don't do. Without sounding bold I don't think they are doing as much as I'm doing but I will stand up and say I was wrong too. My newest set of heads have a differant exhaust port in them. It has a much better flow across the guide ares. Kinda looks like the inside curve of a small ball. It would seem to make for a much better exit flow path. It almost looks like the design of a pro stock head flow pattern. Maybe it will flow better than my current heads???

Why anyone would want a 3 angle valve job for anything that is going to be street driven is beyond me Way back when , when I was running a machine shop and the kids would come in wanting 3 and 5 angle valve jobs , and I could tell that they just broke their piggy bank open after reading the last 2 years of hot rod magazine, I would have a heck of a time talking them out of it, but all that does is give you a narrower valve seating surface that doesn't last very long, and especially on a diesel where you aren't turning very high RPMS, it's not going to make a bit of difference. Just a WAG here but I think you'd have to be turning about twice redline for a 3 angle valve job to start showing it's stuff on one of these things. I think that Barnett just has a good marketing thing going. Throw out the right catch phrases and hook and reel em in.

 

[icanfixall]

Thats kinda what I thought about Barnett too. When some "person" can't tell you whats been done to something mechanical its usually not done.. Sure, there are secrets but just tell me that. I wont be satisified till I know that the secret is till I work it over a few times. One exception is the Moose pump. I know nothing of the internals or how "things" are changed internally. I don't need nor really want to know. This is a trust and honor issue with me. I have seen pumps internals but knowing whats what is beyond my desires. Yes, a 3 angle valve grind seems a waste but I guess some are buying it. I still want one of their stage 3 heads.