Picked these heads up locally. They are 243, the guy told me they were taken off a 5.3 in a sand rail. He stated that they have a fresh valve job and have been checked out by a machine shop with a few of the valves replaced.

Pitting on some of the bore surfaces. this was the worst of it I believe.


Combustion chamber appears to have damage from I dont know what.

good combustion chamber

bad at different angle

good


Do you guys think these are still good to run or am I just being paranoid??

 

Take them to a machine shop. See if they need resurfacing or milling. If milled, is your compession, PTV clearance compromised? I'm not an expert, so I'd let a machinist decide. At least have them inspected.

 

I would rather not have them milled anymore than they have been. they are 61cc now which is about perfect for my set up.

 

yeah, Id say there fine but maybe take about .005" off the top and the pitting should be gone. I personally dont see anything wrong with the chambers either. Might have been scratched from something but not to worry.

 

Get them surfaced if you have PTV issues, have them milled if you don't.

Polish all the combustion chambers.

They don't look bad at all to me.

 

polish chamber to be super save and overly picky which i am and would do.

deck the head the samllest amount you can to clean up for the seal of head gaskets. in NJ the prices would be around 60 bucks for a .005 clean up .and is worth it to be safe.

All this is mostly likey not needed but is what might save time and money in long run. can keep it from being a hack install job

 

How do I go about polishing the combustion chambers? how much does surfacing usually run?

 

Sandpaper rolls can be used, it's part of porting heads so you can search the forum for pictures and tips on porting. But basically various shape and grit of sandpaper cartridge rolls on a die grinder or dremel.

Around here head surfacing is $45-50 for a pair and my dad's shop has it done to every single aluminum head that is removed from an engine just to be safe.

 

How about getting rid of some of the Sharp edges around the chambers that are above the head surface? I would like to surface them but I really don't want to take off any more material.

 

A good surface job will just clean them up, won't be enough material to affect much of anything.

 

They look ok. I would bolt them on and run them. Use the older graphfite coated GM gaskets.

 

yeah, those heads are fine by my book.

 

the 2nd and 4th pics look like some thing touched the head above the plug hole.go over them with a straight edge.