RAMBOW

Another site member let me have these for a case of beer... Rolling the dice seeing how they'd clean up since I have a source for head machining.. First steps were to get them stripped down. Valves were all rusted & frozen in the heads. Required beating them out. Some were harder than others to get out... Finnayl took them up to a friends this morning and blasted them. Pretty pleased how they cleaned up actually.

Before:
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While beating out the valves, i cracked a couple of the guide stems- One completely fractured- They will need all new guides drilled and pressed in.
DSC00655.jpg

Chamber & bowl cleaned up great with the blasting.
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And the before pic again...
rustyports1.jpg

next i'll need to get these to my buddy to find out what it will actually cost to fix these up or to find out if i need to find a better set to start with.
Anyway.. just sharing.

stan 65 cutlass

look good, i have a set of c's just the same. did you use sand?

leadfoot067

WOW...they cleaned up well!!

RAMBOW

I think this was black beauty charcoal media. it didn't even put a dent in the couple spots that had grease buildup, but went right through the rust- left the nice original looking finish underneath (in the chambers & inside the ports... the deck, intake & exhaust surfaces will all have to be machined of course)

Wish I could have spent a little longer to really clean them up, but got the majority of the nasty stuff and was able to see they are saveable. That one that still looks nasty was where the last stubborn valve was. I blasted that head first... then while i was working on the other one my buddy finished beating that valve out.

507OLDS

Don't worry about the broken guide bosses.They get removed when you put new guides in anyway.

RAMBOW

Heh... wish i would have known that when i first started pounding out the valves. When the first one split, I thought I had wrecked the head!

Rickman48

I'd get them magnafuxed before going much further -

507OLDS

I did have one that was SO stuck,it did break one of those off,but after checking the head,the head itself was cracked,in that area. Not sure if I did it or not. I usually manage to break at least one of those off of a set of rusty heads,but all the other ones I have broke,checked-out fine.

RAMBOW

Yup- that is the plan, just wanted to have them clean first so i could see what i was dealing with.

So far all I've got into them is a case of beer, some gas moeny and a couple hours messing around beating & blasting... so if they don't mag ok, I'm not going to lose any sleep.

I have a line on another set of heads from Citicapp. I have not checked them out yet.
but since these were pretty much free, I had to at least mess around with them.

RAMBOW

The magnaflux came back fine- no cracks, but after having my machinest friend look at them, they need all new seats(exhaust & intake are shot) as well as new guides.
Pretty much what I expected after blasting and being able to see, even with my unexperienced eyes.

Realisticly... what would i expect with other used heads- Do the seats ususally need replaced, or ?

Going to try and get a look at the set that Citicap has this week, see if they are better shape than these.

Not opposed to having them fully rebuilt... I'm more hesitant to spend $$ on another set of used heads which after teardown might need the same stuff.

cutlassefi

Hey Ben,

If Pat's(Citcapp) heads aren't what you're looking for I have a set of Ga's for sale in the for sale section.

Best of luck.

Warhead

Rambow,
Unable to discern what size valves you have to start with.
If you go to a larger diameter intake valve, a good machinist should save you from having to install intake seats, unless pitting is "area 51" severe. Larger intakes have other benefits, too.
I would do exhaust seats anyway, that's me.
It's obvious you will need valves, though.
If they have no cracks, they are a good start.
They do look much better than when you started.
Jim

leadfoot067

unless you start with Ga heads you need hardened exhaust seats anyways...

RAMBOW

These heads already had the 2.07 intake valves in them. I already knew all the exhaust seats would need replaced, its just that several of the intakes are wiped out as well, and my friend does not already have a cutter for the 2.07 seats. So that adds a little more expense.

If pats heads only need exhaust seats and no intakes, then I'm a little bit ahead of the game- although from what my friend said, the cost for him to do it and buy the cutter is only a little more than pat is asking for his heads... So the difference is kind of negligable. It almost comes down to would I want to run a set of C heads or E heads.

Thanks, i really appreciate the offer... If I was at that point in my build I would jump on those in a second, But honestly the only reason I'm even messing with heads right now is these were free, and the cleanup & mag check only cost me the gas to drive to my friends place.

I've got a lot of $$ yet to spend on the short block and rotating assembly, and then block machining before i'm ready to start spending $$ on heads.

If i keep these heads, or get Pats, likely they won't see any real work other than cleaning for a many months. I just want to be able to spend time learning how to do the porting on them.

I did see that you offered Pat use of your 455 torque plate for his build, and he said the shop hes using didn't need it... Do you think in a couple months i might be able to borrow or rent it from you? My guy does not have one for Olds motors, but obviously would be nice to be able to use one...

anyway, thanks for all the input guys!

Ben

citcapp

Rambow,

The E heads I have are in great shape. Come by and take a look. I'll work you a deal. I have a set of GA in great shape as well but they are small valve.

RAMBOW

Pat, i will make it out on friday. Yesterday wound up being swamped with work.

My guy let me know that while he COULD rebuild the c-heads, he would strongly advise trying to find a set that didn't need all the intakes rebuilt... said to keep the C's as backups.

citcapp

See you then. I'll be here all day

RAMBOW

Nice meeting you today Pat! Way overdue, we'll definitely get together this summer for some crusin.

I sure liked checking out your cars & hearing your 57 run.
Its like when I visited with shane & got a demonstration of his 455...Gotta get my olds powered motivation when I can, not too many folks around these parts to provide that.

I'll borrow my neighbors spring compressor tonight and start tearing down the heads for inspection... I think we're safe to say I won't need a hammer to get valves out this time!

citcapp

Great to meet you Ben, We'll be cruising for sure this spring-summer.

RAMBOW

Tore these down tongiht, and wow. What a difference.
All the valves came right out. Appears that most of the valves had been replaced "recently" in the motors life. A couple exhaust valves look like they might be toast. But it think most can be ground and reused.
All intake seats are great, all but 2 of the exhaust seats look great- the 2 will probably clean up... Guides were all nice and tight.

I'll get these up to my buddy for hot tanking & magnafluxing, but definitely a good deal. I think basic valve job and those 2 exhaust valves and they'll be good to go (and some basic porting work too)

Thanks again Pat (& john as well since he sold them to Pat)