Cracked head blues

[Luckypabst]

Hey y'all, it's been a while since I've logged in but had some excitement lately to share...

A few of you may remember my plea for help late last spring, after I hit a deer in Idaho at the end of the first day on my 3rd cross-country trip. Ultimately, the car kept chugging along and I was able to grab a replacement hood and straighten the core support at my buddy's place outside Des Moines. At that point it was just easier to not worry about making any further repairs and just enjoy the trip. Aside from the A-hole deer, I logged another 9k trouble free miles, popping around the country, and really hadn't given any further thought to making repairs after I got home, aside from the occasional disdain for the missing grille.

There was one scare in Ohio, when I pulled off the highway to check the map and let the car idle for about 10 minutes. After I pulled back onto the road, I kept smelling something nasty, thinking there was a paper mill nearby... then looked down to see the temp gauge pegged. When I hit the deer, it bent the fan housing, causing the fan to stick and not spin. Not a big deal at cruising velocity but the fan came on when I was idling and the resistance melted the power leads to the fan. I straightened everything enough for the fan to work and I continued along, thinking that I probably just narrowly avoided a blown head gasket.

More recently, the Caddy has been more temperamental on cold starts... smoking excessively and running rough for a few seconds, which I attributed to bum glow plugs. No worry, I'll address it when it gets too annoying. Then Monday the starter almost stalled on cranking, but then it fired... pouring steam out the tailpipe. I figured ***... head gasket time (not a real big deal, I got good at slinging head gaskets when I was fighting the Vanagon a few years back).

I yanked the head yesterday and didn't see any obvious signs of the head gasket leaking but there was a new crack, this time between a valve and pre-chamber. The crack wasn't too ugly so the plan was to have the head pressure tested before making any decisions. But looking closer, the material around the chamber was slightly mushroomed and raised, as if the pre-chamber was moving around in there, so I figured the head was toast and I knocked the chamber out.

It's cracked through the chamber bore and almost clear up into the injector well. I guess it's time to start shopping for a head... And I must have been drunk last time I had the injectors out, because I had two heat shields in hole #1.



So at this point, I have a new radiator, thermostat, T-belt, fuel filter and head gasket on deck. I also need to reseal the plunger chamber on the IP but need to confirm if it can be done in situ.

Fun stuff. But not when you're trying to chug through university on a dwindling savings.

Chris

[theman53]

OUCH. Good to know you got it home though.

[libbydiesel]

By "reseal the pluger chamber" do you mean it is leaking around the BIG triangular nut that houses the timing plug bolt in the end of the distributor head?  If so, then that can be changed on the car.  There is no risk.  I use a 24mm 12-pt socket that has had the right 6 pts removed.  You could start with a 6pt and enlarge it in the right way, but that's more work.  Once you remove it you will see it has an o-ring around it.  For torquing the big nut I use 60 ft-lbs.

Sorry about the head.  I have several that look like that that need the usable parts pulled and then sent for scrap.  I don't really have a recommendation WRT a source for 1.6 heads either.  Most have cracked pre-chambers and I don't currently have a decent source for pre-chambers.  The only new castings I know of are Chinese or TopLine.   

[Luckypabst]

I wish I could afford the downtime of swapping in the ALH taking up space in the garage.

Thanks Libby, I figured you would know and was hoping you'd catch this post. I only saw the one wrench flat but it didn't occur to me that it takes a triangular tool. I swapped the delivery valve crush washers a few weeks ago but still have a slow drip at the IP head near the delivery valves and mount bracket so this is next in line.

I'll check the local rebuilders but I would like to try a Topline, if I can find a distributor and the price is right.

Chris

[theman53]

When I was looking to get a topline in 2012 Feb. they said they would have new ones soon. Last I checked with them it was May of 2012 and they still had none available and no idea of when they were coming in.

Stinks, to have an otherwise good head doesn't it. Mine let loose completely and #3 was junk but the others were fine, but it wrecked the entire head as far as being usable.

[Luckypabst]

I was about to buy a topline back 4 years or so and got the same story from the manufacturer. I'd like to give them a shot, especially since the price isn't too far out of line with a rebuilt OEM.

Chris

[RustyCaddy]

Not too long back you could get new AMC heads from Aluminum Head Rebuilders in Portland, OR.  i don't have experience with AMC but a local (within 300 miles) TDI Vanagon converter had used them often and with good results when working with IDI's between conversions.

[dave friday]

AMC Spain sell them [amc.es]

[wolf_walker]

There seem to be a bunch of places that sell "rebuilt" heads these days, are they no-go?
I've been blessed enough to never need one.

One of those outfits had a good speel about heating the head and pressing it flat instead of
surfacing them into true, some seemingly sound reasoning  about the cam bores being out of line,
along with the rest of the head.  Dunno if they were full of it or not.

I'm always inclined to use genuine parts like heads and such when possible, but
if it isn't it isn't. 

Much sympathy though.

[Luckypabst]

I ended up buying a new Topline from a retailer out of Oregon... still waiting on delivery. I would prefer OEM myself but there aren't many rebuilders that have these heads on the shelf anymore and I didn't want to go through tracking down a rebuildable core. The one shop that I know has both new aftermarket and rebuilt heads in stock lost my business a few years back... I found the Topline for a bit less in OR, anyhow.

Chris

[theman53]

I am not for sure about this but I think that the new aftermarket will be better than a 30 year old OEM. My thinking even if it has been redone, unless you have had it for all those years you don't know if it has been ether baby or how many heat cycles can it take before it does what yours did. New castings I think are what I would have done if I could have got one.

I should say I was wanting a bare casting, topline had fully assembled, but I wanted to put the best valves and port the crap out of it. Plus I needed more spring, so that is why I couldn't get one. Good luck with yours.

[745 turbogreasel]

I'd say the new Chinese castings are almost certainly of inferior metal,  and the valves will be  the cheapest you ever saw.

[Luckypabst]

Good thing the Toplines come from Argentina 

[Luckypabst]

Now I need to find the time to throw it back together... the new head looks very nice on first inspection



Chris

[R.O.R-2.0]

wow... looks ALOT nicer than the last topline i laid hands on..

appears that they have improved their castings over the old ones..