Head swap

[Ferendon]

Head gaskets are $53 each, and the bolt set is $31... What else do I need? And if I can get them cheaper, let me know!

 

[Mr Anonymous]

FWIW, IIWM, I'd buy the NAPA/Victor Reinz 3.0L upper gasket set which includes not only both head gaskets, but just about every other upper end gasket you'll need -- cam seals, valve cover seals, plug well seals, all intake gaskets, etc. It's only about $150.


Oh, and spring for a tube of assembly ****.

 

[Ferendon]

$150!?!?!?!?!?!? I was looking at $300!

 

[Ferendon]

in the midst of the head swap im going to be replacing rod bearings and piston rings
Any advice on the rings? never done those before

 

[Ferendon]

Thanks for the tip on the gasket set. Saved me $230 over Autozone or Oreilly. Much appreciated. Now I can actually AFFORD piston rings and rod bearings.

 

[Bizzy]

Check out RCM automotive on ebay, he's got rings, rod bearings, and full gaskets sets for some really good prices. Can't beat $39.99+S/H for rod bearings. I've bought a few sets for use on customer's now, professional service and fast shipping.

I've never installed rings so I can't help you out there, but I can tell you that you also don't need to watse money on new head bolts, I think everyone I know reuses the old ones, especially on SHOs.

Like Mr. A. said spring for a "Tube of ****" <--- hehe

 

[Ferendon]

LoL. I know I need assembly **** for the rod bearings, and I'm gonna oil coat the pistons on reinstall, just as a precaution. I need this stuff ASAP, so when you say fast shipping, you mean like a day or 2?

 

[Bizzy]

stuff he ships to me usually arrives next day, but I'm in NY and he's in PA. Still he ships via USPS priority, so 2-3 days is the norm

look under super_high_output on ebay.

 

[Ferendon]

I found him. It's like $125 for the rod bearings, main bearings, ****, and a couple other things, and I told him to get me a number for the total on 2 day shipping.

 

[Ferendon]

Think some PB on the bolts might be good? And I was told to get the heads Vat'd... It's a heavy duty cleaning prossess... From what Ben (One of my O'Reilly homies) told me, it's basically a 20 minute bath in jet streamed hot decarboning agent. Any woes for me? Don't think it will have any negative effects, but who knows, maybe there's something I'm not taking into consideratio... Aluminum scares me. Everytime I think of gasket matching, I can just see the dremel eating right through the head.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Think some PB on the bolts might be good? And I was told to get the heads Vat'd... It's a heavy duty cleaning prossess... From what Ben (One of my O'Reilly homies) told me, it's basically a 20 minute bath in jet streamed hot decarboning agent. Any woes for me? Don't think it will have any negative effects, but who knows, maybe there's something I'm not taking into consideratio... Aluminum scares me. Everytime I think of gasket matching, I can just see the dremel eating right through the head.

The jet washing will make the heads look like brand new. You shouldn't need PB on anything inside the engine.

 

[Ferendon]

I'm getting them vat'd and inspected for 12.50 each. Not too shabby, and if they need a valve job, that's $45 a head. Not too bad either, but I'm only doing that if I need to. They heads are pretty clean as they are, I got them from SHOmurph, and he takes care of his stuff. He gave me a good deal too. This project is gonna be labor intensive, but not as expensive as I thought. Do I need the water/PS pump gaskets?