Crack in my heads!

[96 century]

I was milling my heads today and i noticed small crack that ran in from the spark plug hole toward the combustion camber and run deeps into the spark plug hole. What a bummer!! I have another set of heads but now i need to spend a day tearing them down and cleaning them up.

Now that i have a set of junk heads has anyone ever cut these heads apart to see how much room there is for porting? Just wondering. I have access to a band saw to do it but dont really have the time. Would anyone be intrested in seeing this?

[El_Diablo]

sure, free carnage is always good

[bszopi]

Its been done at least once that I know of on Gen 3 heads. I know we have pics up on the site of cut-up Gen 2 and DOHC heads. I don't think we have any of the Gen 3 heads, but I know it has been done.

But yeah, if you want to hack them up and take a bunch of hi-res pics, send them over and we'll get them up.

[96 century]

Update

OK so i tore down my other set of heads today. And guess what cracks in the same places! So i set one of the heads up on the pressure tester but didn’t get a chance to spray in down with soap. Is this common with these heads? I just hope i have two heads that don’t leak!

And of topic- Hey Brad "bszopi" dose you beretta run on stock tune?

[bszopi]

Yeah, its still the stock 3100 PCM with stock programming.

[3400-95-Modified]

To answer your other question, yes this is a common place to crack... I have a set just like this as my spare set... I don't know if I would ever trust them with juice but who knows. Other common issues is low spots on the gasket area near cylinder 2 and 5's exhaust ports.

[SappySE107]

Yup, the machine shop I use has had more than a couple sets with cracks in them. I won't use anything with a crack in it.

[AaronGTR]

To answer your other question, yes this is a common place to crack... I have a set just like this as my spare set... I don't know if I would ever trust them with juice but who knows. Other common issues is low spots on the gasket area near cylinder 2 and 5's exhaust ports.

Yes, I've noticed exhaust leaks in those places as well with my headers. Hopefully I fixed the problem by switching back to stock metal gaskets (modified of course) and locking header bolts.


I haven't noticed cracks in any of my heads so far, but I have also heard of this problem from other people. Anyone know what causes it? Maybe overheating, or sudden cold water from the radiator in winter when the thermostat opens?