Hi folks,
I'm looking for opinions from the group. I have a 1990 F250 fi 351W. You know the motor I'm sure. Well I did a compression, and cyls 1 and 2 were low, and a leakdown confirmed bad exhaust valves on both. The good news is, they're both on one cylinder head. The bad news is, of course it's the one that's the hardest to get to because of all the induction stuff is going to have to come off. You all know what I'm talking about there I'm sure. So I have 2 questions for you. I'm not planning on getting high performance heads, I don't want to spend that kind of dough on that old of a truck. So, my first question is, who sells quality reman heads? I was planning on going to Napa or Oreilly's or some place but I don't know if any one is better than the other. I'm assuming I'm going to do the whole core exchange thing. Second question is would you exchange the other head too if it were you, or just do the one? Submitted for discussion... Thx

 

You could just rebuild the head.

 

If your gonna do one..then do both....last thing you want to happen is the same problem in 2 months on the other side..

I know 2 guys that have gotten sets of 460 efi heads from Oriely/kragen and they were good rebuilds.,,, one set has 40k miles and is runnin stong.. but for the money I'd have done a rebuild.. I think they run $700 a set or so.

Price wise, and considering your castings are still good,, just take both of em in and rebuild them.... way cheaper IMO....

 

Did you search on ebay for a set? you may find something.

 

Check this out,not a bad price

Ford 351w windsor Rebuilt cylinder head E7TE PA 302 - eBay (item 280651250415 end time Apr-04-11 20:39:14 PDT)

 

shame it's a single head not the pair
I would do them as a pair myself~~~~

 

So, after 4 nights of working on it until I'm about to pass out from exhaustion, I'm almost ready to get one of the heads outta there!! JEEZIS what a pain in the a$$ this is turning into. I found a local machine shop that has a fairly good reputation, and I decided to go ahead and get em both done. He's going to charge me about 600 bucks for the rework / repair. No mods, no polishing, just a mill, replace worn parts, set valve height; just the basics. Sounds like a good price to me but then I started poking around Auto Zone and Oreilley's and they're selling crate engines for around 1300 bucks after core refund. With all the work this has been, I'm about 10 bolts away from being able to being able to yank the thing completely and by the end of this I'm thinking 1300 is not so much for a motor with a 3 year 30K mile warranty. So what do you think of the motors available at the big parts stores?

 

Ive heard great things from Cylinder Heads International. Haven't bought from them myself though.

Checking their website, its showing a single rebuilt cylinder head for a 5.0/5.8 for $150... (gotta send back your old one).

Cylinder Heads International

Good luck

-JT

 

FORD 4.9 LITER 300 REBUILT CYLINDER HEAD 1987 AND NEWER

Not too shabby IMO...3 angle valve job...there's the 300 bux already...plus a warranty, and its been tested for cracks....

Should I?

-Wes

 

BBB Review of Cylinder Heads International in Grand Prairie, TX

They haven't had any complaints against them in the last 3 years. I don't know if the price is good or not, but 300 bucks sounds good to me. They seem like a solid business with a good warranty.

 

I'm looking at a set of Odessa heads off ebay:

FORD TRUCK VAN MARINE 5.0 5.8 302 351 V8 CYLINDER HEAD - eBay (item 150494945638 end time Apr-15-11 12:20:01 PDT)

I found out last night that the heads on my sloppy reman engine are E5AE, not E7TE, as they should be. So, I can't return a core. Bummer. Odessa has a warranty and 3 angle valves too, and I sure can't find a better price. I'm just irritated about the sloppy rebuild. I contacted the previous owner to see of he knows what shop did the work so I know who to stay away from. Here's a link to some pics...

https://picasaweb.google.com/gillynp...eat=directlink

 

Man I looked at your pics....wow....

 

It's kinda hard to see, and I just realized picassa won't let you download the pics and zoom in (sorry) but on the closeup, the exhaust valve (the smaller of the 2 valves) is recessed for both cyls #1 and #2, and #2 valve is cracked as well. It also appears the intake valve for #1 is different than the others. The others look ok otherwise. I tried to put labels on them, but then again, you can't zoom in so you probably can't read em.

 

ttps://picasaweb.google.com/gillynpete/F250CylinderHead?authkey=Gv1sRgCO2iheXenMb4kwE&fea t=directlink#

Install is coming along nicely. The Odessa heads came last week (took a pic), and the quality appears to be fairly good. By that I mean I found no fault with em and they looked professionally done. Shipping was slow but... I guess we'll see when it comes time to run er, but I'm optimistic. I am just hoping I don't have a lot of leaks. Coolant comes into the lower intake manifold which could be a huge problem if there's a leak. Hoping for the best!

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/gillynp...2iheXenMb4kwE#

Final update - got er all together today and she runs like a champ. No leaks that I can find, and no odd burning no nothing just a motor that runs like a V8 should. I took it out on the highway and I have lots more power, smoother power and just all around mucho better. I could even feel myself accelerating; whereas the only indication before was in increase in the speedometer numbers So far the Odessa heads have impressed me. The only caveat I would advise anyone buying from them is do your own QC check. Check all parts for correct installation and all bosses / threads / whatever for correct positioning and clean threads. I found a few missteps with my smog connector and an exhaust stud hole had boogered threads. Of course I didn't find the exhaust thread thing until it was all in and I was on the LAST BOLT! So needless to say I hogged in the bolt and said good enough. It's sealing that's all that matters. I feel sorry for the guy who tries to take it out (might be me). All for now; cheers!