Guys and Gals I hate to write this post and contemplated exposing my ignorance for a few days but I have to go on line and tell you all that I made a poor choice - purchase off the corral on a set of heads. In hopes that maybe this will wave a red flag to others to follow when you buy expensive engine components from a person you don't know on the net.
The add read: New this year ,GT-40X heads less than 3K miles on them , 12 runs down the 1/4 mile propelled my stang to 12.80's. I called the guy on the phone and he seemed like a nice enough guy, said the heads had a light cleanup in the bowls and ports and are in "excellent" condition. I asked him on why he is taking them off and he replied he wanted to step up to a Ed Curtis prepared set of Canfields to run in the elevens. I'm thinking to my self price is right, what I want and this is a good buy and sent him the money. The heads arrived and I gave them a quick visual and could see a few irregularities in the way the valves seated so I thought I would run them over to John Haskell, he is a pretty well known Ford head porter here up in the NW, does stuff for big time racers like Pat Austin etc.. I wanted to get the exhaust port work done anyway and get the heads flowed ect. planned on putting 3-400 more in port work on the exhaust side anyway because I bought the heads right!
I was floored when John called me and told me the heads were crap. Here was his findings: Needed to replace 2 exhaust and 1 intake valve seats, 1 valve guide. Every valve seat was so far out of tolerance that he said he doubted the car would even run. The head had shown some previous welding repair. When he pressure tested he found 2 pin hole leaks in the same runner in both the heads. He said that was from core shift during the sand casting. I checked the casting #'s and the heads had been bought bare and an assembly parts kit bought. Looks like this guy put it together himself with no machining at all.
The heads are being assembled now and he has flow tested 1 pair of ports at .500 lift: 240 intake and 179 exhaust.
Bottom line could of bought a set of stage1Edelbrocks or AFRs for all the cost and without the hassle.
I'm sure the heads will help me get my 12 second goal but this all has left me with two thought that I thought I would pass on for what it is worth:
Buyer beware on" net" buying on moving parts and at this point I can't recommend GT-40X heads to anyone because of the core shifting problems that occured when they were casted, Ford or vender quality control issues here . If you buy a set of used heads get them checked before you stick them on , I'm glad I did. I picked the Ford motorsport heads because I thought they offered higher quality control than they other aftermarket counterpart brands but it doesn't appear so does it.
Later
Steve
The add read: New this year ,GT-40X heads less than 3K miles on them , 12 runs down the 1/4 mile propelled my stang to 12.80's. I called the guy on the phone and he seemed like a nice enough guy, said the heads had a light cleanup in the bowls and ports and are in "excellent" condition. I asked him on why he is taking them off and he replied he wanted to step up to a Ed Curtis prepared set of Canfields to run in the elevens. I'm thinking to my self price is right, what I want and this is a good buy and sent him the money. The heads arrived and I gave them a quick visual and could see a few irregularities in the way the valves seated so I thought I would run them over to John Haskell, he is a pretty well known Ford head porter here up in the NW, does stuff for big time racers like Pat Austin etc.. I wanted to get the exhaust port work done anyway and get the heads flowed ect. planned on putting 3-400 more in port work on the exhaust side anyway because I bought the heads right!
I was floored when John called me and told me the heads were crap. Here was his findings: Needed to replace 2 exhaust and 1 intake valve seats, 1 valve guide. Every valve seat was so far out of tolerance that he said he doubted the car would even run. The head had shown some previous welding repair. When he pressure tested he found 2 pin hole leaks in the same runner in both the heads. He said that was from core shift during the sand casting. I checked the casting #'s and the heads had been bought bare and an assembly parts kit bought. Looks like this guy put it together himself with no machining at all.
The heads are being assembled now and he has flow tested 1 pair of ports at .500 lift: 240 intake and 179 exhaust.
Bottom line could of bought a set of stage1Edelbrocks or AFRs for all the cost and without the hassle.
I'm sure the heads will help me get my 12 second goal but this all has left me with two thought that I thought I would pass on for what it is worth:
Buyer beware on" net" buying on moving parts and at this point I can't recommend GT-40X heads to anyone because of the core shifting problems that occured when they were casted, Ford or vender quality control issues here . If you buy a set of used heads get them checked before you stick them on , I'm glad I did. I picked the Ford motorsport heads because I thought they offered higher quality control than they other aftermarket counterpart brands but it doesn't appear so does it.
Later
Steve
Good luck with your heads!!
.
