Cyl'd head water jackets

[bobbo]

Will the cylinder head need to be welded and re-drilled where corrosion has caused arch shaped openings?
Or will I be okay to assemble as is.
Photo attached. 1725 head.

 

[DanR]

From the looks when I magnify the picture, it looks far worse than I would take a chance on. I would be afraid the gasket would fail. My OP

I am sure you will get some more.

I see there is a bit left of the tabs. Might resurface down a couple thousands ?

 

[DanR]

Marked in yellow around ports and on the bottom tabs

 

[sunalp]

I'm with Dan on this one. There is a lot of corrosion there, and probably inside as well. Not sure if that could
be welded as it seems to be everywhere.

Try & find a better head.

 

[alpine_64]

I agree, you will lose the head gasket quickly... If you ever see a NOS head the crescent is surprisingly narrow compared to anything we see now.

I wouldnt throw the head away.. But you should weld it and re drill.. Consider the mod to weld them fully and just drill 2 matched holes.

At the same time you can swirl polish up your chambers and maybe do the porting on the intake and exhaust runners per factory tuning guide... Do a 3 angle valve grind too.

Yes all costs money... But honestly.. You get a lot back out of the head on these motors... They smooth out a lot... Use noticeably less fuel ( if you keep the same carb setup) and bump the performance a little.

 

[bobbo]

Expect I'll take the head in for welding and drilling then, along with a skim off the surface to reduce corrosion on the face. You have confirmed what I had expected. Have given the chambers a light clean-up and ported the head, lapped the valves, all of which which I am quite happy with.
I'll post the "after" picture when I get the head back.
Cheers, bob
Hope to see you all in Oakville in Sept.

 

[Tim R]

This was a head that was taken from a car that had the 2 matched holes modification. It ran perfectly well for many thousands of miles. If that was my head I would do as alpine_64 says, fully weld it up and drill the matched holes, very light skim and then polish. They won't be making any more Alpine cylinder heads so if we can keep one in use it makes sense to do so.
Tim R

 

[bobbo]

Thanks Tim. I'll take this photo to the machine shop for clarity along with the head gasket.