i have a friend who has some Source heads that needed some chamber work. they were welded with a quality rod & machined to what he wanted but now he feels the new weld is too soft. i suggested he gets them heat treated to anneal the new weld but someone told him that can't be done. those of you on here who have had welding done to your heads, what did you do to the heads after the welding process? anything?

talk to AERO HEADS(Div. of Indy Head) They do very good work.

I welded on my new stealth when I first got them, reshaped the combustion chamber some and added some meat around where the head gasket area is. I did not get them heat treated and have had no problems with a 12:1 470. I used 5356 filler metal using TIG. It's been about 3 years and about 300 passes down the track. The only problem I had was one of the heads cracked on me last year around one of the outer head bolts and into the water jacket. When I pulled the head, there was no grove where the head gasket "ring" rides on the so called "softer" area. I gouged/welded upthe crack, had the head shaved to remove warping from welding and have had no problems.

The heads in question are mine.They were some of the earlier stealth ones that had overhang in the chambers. I thought i was in good hands with rebel and his mate.These heads are now stuffed .They can possibly be fixed but very, very doubtful,it would be cheaper buying new heads.The guy who welded them did piss poor welds that are full of holes and would have fallen out eventually if they were used.
Now anyone who is welding on ali heads should know that you can only use one particular rod. Why because the others will soften the ali. How soft, read on.
I sold these heads on to someone who was in the process of having a 440 built.His builder did a vacuum test and one valve was leaking badly. He pops the valve and sees that the seat has been welded on so he then takes a closer look and sees all the crap welding. So next he gives it a hardness test. Now a new ali head will give a typical rn hardness reading of 120.
Experienced head guys i have talked to, one being solely a head guy doing a ton of performance work the other a machine shop/engine builder who runs the worlds fastest SB ford have said they're junk. Tony said the minimum with 9.5 to 10.1 CR would be a hardness of 80 to 85. When i told him mine measured at 40, he just had the one word, Junk

Speaking to the heat treatment people. Anealling is not an option because the degree they bring it up to is just about where ali melts.They do other heat treatments but they can't say if it be effective.
What ever treatment you used if you wanted to, the guides and seat inserts would have to be removed. Most of the inserts would have to replaced because if you look in a stealth head thay are machined where they overlap one another.
So that's what i mean by what i say above, that the cost with all this additional work doen't make it feasable and you still don't know if you are going to the hardness plus you'd still need additional welding as well.
I'm out $2100nz because of this. I didn't hesitate to refund the guy who bought these, he lives about 1000 miles away. He payed the shipping there and back so i let him keep the new higher psi bolt kit. Oh yeah i let him keep the head, manifold and exhaust gaskets as well that rebel initially gave me but then he just accumulates those as he has no need for them. He only uses 1-2 gaskets out of a set but it's a cheaper way to buy them he says. It's the least i could do as i know that shipping was expensive
I will post some pics if i can work it out, also you can find my original post for help on these head on this subforum

Thx
Brett

Hey i see you're in nz too. Came across this in my search as i was thinking about getting some stealths. Are these the heads mentioned on the kiwi forum

Seems to me that the problem as described is not the heads but the welder. Sorry to hear of your problems.
R.

kia ora there jaws and yep those are the ones , i've been working out of town for a while and will follow up when i get back, rebel dfoesn't answer my calls i have text him

Yeah i was talking to a guy who knows the guy who bought them off you.Haha he thought he was going to have to kiss his money goodbye. I'll tell you what you've got alot of kudos down south here and with the mopar community for doing the honourable thing. Wish i could say the same for rebel and his mate,i see he posts alot here and bet he has seen this
. By the way i've pointed this thread out to several others as we"d all like to see you treated decent, hope you don'y mind
Wish i'd come to this site ages ago as there's a ton of great info and stuff to buy

later

there's easily 20 rods for welding ali, and more than one for doing heads
Has nothing to do with the casting being a head, it's:
1. the heat and stress environment
2. the alloy