[Mgs] Picking a head

Eric Erickson eric at erickson.on.net
Sat Feb 9 19:35:12 MST 2008


Guys,

This is a strange one but something I have to get my head (pun  
intended) around.   I am preparing my car for the new competition  
season and this year it means a little further development work and  
some cash outlay (as always).

I have had issues with the head that I bought a few years ago which  
was ported and polished to the max, well, as it turned out it was  
polished a little past the max with cracks appearing into the water  
jacket.  Believe it or not, "Chemiweld" fixed this for almost a whole  
last competition season (hey, my budget is tiny) but I NEED A NEW HEAD!

The dilemma... I was going to look for a nice strong head and get it  
ported, polished, gas-flowed etc  Lots of money. BUT I have just been  
offered the head off a fellow competitors car for a "good" price (not  
a bargain-basement price, but significantly cheaper that starting  
from scratch).  This car was a decent amount faster than mine but it  
was also fuel-injected so it was not all about this head.  The owner  
is going V8 so he is selling of all his 4 cylinder bits.

The head is fresh off his block so it is a little grubby and not  
looking very special.  Valves are as big as they could be (without  
touching) and ports are huge - bigger than mine.  It was supposedly  
gas-flowed when ported/polished.

My question... what do I need to look for before outlaying the decent  
amount of money he is asking for this item?  It would kill me to bolt  
this head on and find it didn't live up to its promise and left a big  
hole in my meagre budget.  Are we talking about "re gasflowing" it -  
and would this tell me that it was doing what it was designed/ 
reported to do?



Eric
MGB MkII
Adelaide, South Australia


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