Did I ruin this head?

jquinlan

jquinlan

Senior Member
A few months ago I was trying to remove a head from a spare engine I had and I used a home made head puller. This head was ridiculously hard to remove until the area around one of the spark plugs busted. The area where one spark plug sits is now missing some material of the "ring".

So today I revived that project with a recommended head puller I bought from Brattons. After several hours wrestling with this head it finally came off. Looking at the attached picture do you think the head now needs to be replaced or is it still usable? The goal is to clean up the engine and eventually make it a standalone working engine on a stand. I pulled the head because I could see mouse droppings and other debris in the cylinders. Should be an interesting project since I have all the parts I need to make it run on the stand.
 

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The spark plug needs a good seal, and so I'd say it's a gonner, but I haven't "been around the barn", so to speak as far as repairs like this. I would also think that standard heads are probably pretty easy to come by, since many are converting to HC heads. In fact, I just pulled my standard head off to put on a Snyder's 5.5 head. In the process, I found out why I was getting some water weeping around the #2 head stud. A small crack between one of the water ports and the stud hole caused a very small leak.

Your mouse droppings must have been limited to the manifold and input/exhaust ports. I don't see much evidence in the cylinders from the photo.
 
If you broke a little off, you can braze the surface and grind it back down to where it needs to be. Welding works as well, and I don't see why it would not work as long as the spark plug can seal.
 
With so many people these days installing high compression heads, there must be plenty of standard ones available cheap or you could put a new HC head on this motor.
 
For others sake I will mention that I don't see much oil penetrant on any of the studs. Oil makes things come apart easier most of the time. You should be able to get a good head for $50. or so.
 
I have a couple extra heads so that won't be a problem. Just wondering the state of this one. Thanks for all the responses !
Jim
 
That can be fixed with a Helicoil or Timesert or cast iron plug.
Much easier to use another head.
Might be cheap insurance to check the other head AND the block for being flat.
 
Pretty much ruined, you knocked the spark plug gasket sealing surface off. Doubt a helicoil would fix that.

I would use another head.
 
If you have no plans other than to have an extra engine to run on a stand, it costs nothing to play with it. Grind or mill the spark plug hole surface flat and add an extra washer under the spark plug. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If it leaks a bit, it still may be good enough for your intended use, so long as it runs ok. You won’t have any load on it, as I understand it.
 
Russ B said:
If you have no plans other than to have an extra engine to run on a stand, it costs nothing to play with it. Grind or mill the spark plug hole surface flat and add an extra washer under the spark plug. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If it leaks a bit, it still may be good enough for your intended use, so long as it runs ok. You won’t have any load on it, as I understand it.
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I thought about this as it would be interesting to see what happens. But since I have about 3-4 heads in my parts shelf I'll just use one of them.
 
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