Hello, I am looking for a new (well, remanned) cylinder head for my truck. The problem is I can't find anywhere that has any that match mine. My truck is an 82 F100, but the engine was replaced with a '76 4.9L 300 I6 if I recall correctly. The head has 3/8 rocker studs and no smog holes as far as I can tell. The casting number is unreadable. I'd prefer to not replace the rocker arms for cost reasons, but if I could for around $50 and have a solution I'd consider it. I've called over 15 places and had no luck on finding any in stock. Do I have any other options? I was hoping to keep it under $300.

I'm replacing it because I blew the head gasket a year and a half ago, and replaced the gasket without getting all the old gasket material off and made it worse. The water, oil, and exhaust all mixed together and blew out the back of the engine shortly afterwards I had to keep driving it for a year after that, so I'd like a new head to be safe.

I don't know much about engine work, just barely enough to get me in trouble. If any other information or pictures would be helpful I can try my best to find it.

 

Well for around that you should be able to take it to a machine shop and they can check it and rebuild and shave it if needed to flatten the sealing surface no need for a new head. It will raise your compression depending on how much they have to remove but should not be a problem.

 

If you find a cylinder head with the bolt down pedestal rockers, those will work too. Just get a set of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-300-CID-4-9L-Complete-Rocker-Arm-Kit-NEW-/170224141902?hash=item27a226464e&vxp=mtr
It's what I have on my head (which is out of an '86).