Just interested in thoughts ideas about a cylinder head repair .
This is on my CNC source heads . Been fine for about 6 years , ran awesome on saturday
At work monday noticed a bit more moisture in valve covers , not unusual in winter with no pvc valve , normally gone after a weekend racing . Radiator down about a quart
Cleaned 1 cover , rechecked today . Worse .
Pulled heads to checkover .
2 cracks/splits in 2 different intake ports in 1 head . These are right through to headbolt passage , aluminium looks very thin , about 1/2" long.
Appears these may also intersect water ?
Is this simply drill and drive in a sleeve/tube situation ?
Or are these possibly done and beyond repair . The crack is quite down the port

Tex

nice thing about alum is it can be welded up; if the welder can get to it. truth is there's probably other trouble spots that may show up. if it's possible i'd think about moving on to something else.

That is a big concern for sure
Thanks

Tex

Source heads are made from a very brittle and IMO low quality alloy--would be a waste of time to try and weld I think--get some Sidewinders or Trick Flows and keep on keeping on You may also find upon inspection that the guides are worn out--that metal looks like bronze but does not hold up well either
There have been folks that cracked those heads when tightening them down on the block

Have them pressure tested to see for sure where the water is coming from.
The head bolt holes "shouldn't" intersect water, but if they do...... Sealing that up is likely going to be a challenge.

I would buy some Trick Flows and sell those to someone that wants to go thru the hassle of fixing them.

O'Rielly's , probably others sell some block crack fix stuff , it a bright green bottle, guaranteed to stop leaks. Might try that first. A friend of mine used it on a BB Chevy intake gasket water leak . Surprised me that it worked.

Mr. Porter nailed it. You need to pressure test the heads and really see where the leak is. You can tube the bolt holes. But that won't stop your leak. Unless you have some weird deal where a crack in a water jacket is leading to that crack in the bolt hole.

Usually, that stuff only happens to me, but it is possible you got a bit of the green weenie.

thanks guys .
I will try and get them pressure tested next week .
Looks like TF270 are on the horizon . At least with the TF I can reuse my rocker gear so its just heads , bolts , pushrods

Tex

Ok ,
just to go down the road a bit .
Which head gasket is good for the Tflow head ? Felpro 1009 , 8519 or buy the Tf cometic which doesn't have a 4.410 bore ?
I understand the Felpro max wedge intake is fine , or go Superformance .
I also need to buy TF rocker shaft studs , but my Crane Gold 1.5 rockers will be reused .
I currently use a 0.039 x 4.410 Cometic but may economise with the felpro if it works .
I know economy and racing are mutually exclusive but by the time parts arrive I am at double the US$ cost .
thanks again ,

Tex

How many "budget" racers have re used Cometic head gaskets ? I have, with only a week between races we had to try it, cleaned, copper spayed and perfect.

I am running he Fel-Pro 1009 with the TF 240's and 12.3-1 compression and so far so good.

Leak check it to verify the crack but I would
sleeve it.. I had to sleeve 3 ports on my
W-2s and 1 port on my W-5.. so far its great..
use a mill to bore your holes

[/quote]I am running he Fel-Pro 1009 with the TF 240's and 12.3-1 compression and so far so good. [/quote]
KOOL
I have ordered the 270's , the 1009 will certainly save some $

Tex

Mr Peabody ,won't chance it . Port wall is almost tissue thin . It would be hard to get at crack ends to drill to stop extending . And there is also thought of any other port cracking .

thanks

Tex

Coat the sleeve with JB weld and send it!

I am running he Fel-Pro 1009 with the TF 240's and 12.3-1 compression and so far so good. [/quote]
KOOL
I have ordered the 270's , the 1009 will certainly save some $

Tex[/quote]

If your block has chamfered bores, those 1009 gaskets will likely overhang the bore.

Kevin

KOOL
I have ordered the 270's , the 1009 will certainly save some $

Tex[/quote]

If your block has chamfered bores, those 1009 gaskets will likely overhang the bore.

Kevin [/quote]
It is 0.030 overbore . Yes i will check

Tex

Head gaskets...... Not really a good place to scrimp IMO.
I'd stick with the 4.410 Cometics.

What you're experiencing is why I prefer not to try and make a head into something it's not by excessively porting it.
If you need a bigger head....... And something is available.......its often less expensive in the long run to just get them at the start.

Sounds like you should be looking to upgrade on the heads sorry to say

thanks Dwayne ,
the source heads were what I could afford at the time and met my needs . They did run 6 plus years .
These Tf heads are costing me $3800 plus any 10% tax , so down here we do have to budget some items
with the bigger motor well I can now afford a better cyl head . I am not a number chaser , just a street driving bracket racer .
Are you of the opinion the fel1009 are just not good enough ? They list as same bore size and thickness

Tex

Keep your eyes open for a 10% off coupon when you buy something big like that. I will be attending a 3 day 20,000.00 race next weekend and I'm betting some will be floating around so I will keep my eyes open. A member in the gereral section just gave me one and I ordered slicks today. He gave them all out but one of use will pick up another batch soon.

I reused mine 3 times on my 15-1 572. Never had any issue. Sprung for new ones 4th time around.
Doug

hey John
I used my Summit proshop account , seems around 10% off normally .
Summit have been good and they throw some sponsorship down here .

Doug ,
always a bit leery about reusing gaskets .

Hope to see heads end of next week . Should be a step up from the source ones

Tex

Just for an example on my slicks today. Pro Shop savings was 34.00 but a 10% off coupon came to 61 dollars. not a big savings but 27.00 is 27.00 in my World. That's almost half of my 60.00 entry into Saturdays race. What was really nice was they gave me 20.00 worth of Summit Bucks on one of my past orders. Thank you Summit Racing.

Here is a pic down 1 port
Over half inch long
Tex

That’s an easy fix there just by tubing the head bolt with K&S brass tubing and JB weld. But the water isn’t coming from there

After buying a 1009 Fel set, and .051 and .040 Cometic sets that cost over $800 Aussie Im bleeding from the rectum and will be re using these Cometics next time, they are fine second hand.

After buying a 1009 Fel set, and .051 and .040 Cometic sets that cost over $800 Aussie Im bleeding from the rectum and will be re using these Cometics next time, they are fine second hand. [/quote
aint this the case . 1009 are $160 pair here Cometics are twice this, have a spare set 0.027 cometics but wont work this motor .
Will not reuse this pair as going different heads

Tex

tex you can get them impregnated with a coating resin it works on the indy junk that does the same

Ian ,
What is the resin?
When the dust settles may look at reoair and sell these heads . Worth looking at

Tex

Thanks Ian

Tex