Single use cylinder head

[dhirocz]

My understanding is, and keep in mind this is lots of heads, not just the ISX, is that there arent that many people doing a quality job anymore. They just want to do a quick job and you end up with a pile of crap. To do it at a minimum, you would want to strip it, magnaflux it to check for cracks, machine it flat, do a valve job...we havent even discussed all the possibilities (like injector cups or pressure testing it). By the time you put all the money into it to legitimately make it right, you could get a new head.

Lots of times a reman has knurled guides instead of new, lapped valves instead of a valve job, and only springs that fail a pressure check or are damaged get replaced. Ive even seen a head resurfaced on a belt sander. Something like that is something I would expect on an engine rebuild on a 1960 checker taxi in Cuba, not a $3500 head. How much was machined off to make it flat? Is the RA correct for the head gasket? How thick is the head surface after machining? At least with new you know its all new which is far better than 'within spec' which by todays standards is a fairly wide margin.

Many shops out there doing half ass work now to cut costs because people aren't demanding quality (or dont know what quality looks like) and are easily fooled. Hell, most people would rather buy a chinese chevy head rather than spend the money on good stuff or at least have an OEM head done right. Then they wonder why they drop valves and the power was lousy to begin with.

Bottom line is while it is possible to get a decent reman, costs to do it RIGHT make it prohibitive (think of how many valves are in an ISX head), lots of the cores end up as ragged junk or are cracked to begin with before they ever come off (run until she blew), and many of these heads are simply 'remanned' by shops that do it 'good enough' to be 'within spec' before sending it out as fast as possible. They expect people to say 'enh, its got a warranty, right?' and then pull out their wallet without knowing what all goes into a properly rebuilt cylinder head.

Not on my engine.