VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Cracked Cylinder Heads

Should cracked cylinder heads be saved? To junk or not to junk, that is the question.

I don't know if they should be SAVED but probably Baptize them and see what happens (I Baptize them and then use them as a trotline anchor), don't try to retreive them , just tie a float on them and then you can always have a good anchor, You may be surprised, I had one off a SBC stolen, 1/2" nylon rope and all.

Really, I guess depends on how scarce they are, and where and how bad they are cracked, some can be repaired.

If the cylinder head is beyond repair (I have had several of them) then it is a boat anchor. So, you can either use it as a boat anchor or take it to the dump.

what part of these heads failed and why(other than leaving water in sub zero weather)was it blockage due to scale or cooling system in general-I feel you're the man to ask and I can put this lingering question to bed

Usually a head crack is eaither becouse of water freeze or exessive overheat. Which also warps. Inless the head has been welded multipul times and i mean weld upon weld, a good head man can save it. Trouble is FINDING that man these days. I only know of one good one and he stoped becouse he got tired of welding cast for 50 years.

Who decides what is beyond repair? What kinds of cracks, if any, can be fixed? My machine shop guy tells me that small cracks around the valve seats can be repaired.

Good Day All
Over 10 years ago I had the origional head from my 32 chev 5 window coupe welded at Indianoplis Welding Co. There were multiple cracks around the valves. They have a oven were the heads are heated and welded while they are still hot. Then allowed to cool overnight. Of course they will need to be machined flat and the seats ground. By the way I didnt use inserts and have had no problems in 10 years.

My '31 had a crack around the seat and was welded at my local National Bushing store by an experienced old timer after it was boiled out. That was 3 yrs ago and still going strong. It did boil over a couple of times before I replaced the old radiator core with a new one. No leaks or problems yet.

1929-32 cylinder heads are typically weak. I have heard of new old stock cylinder heads that were in the original crate that were magnafluxed and found to be cracked.

Cracks around the valve seats are no big deal since they can be either welded or new valve seats inserted. Another place that the cylinder head normally cracks is down in the spark plug area of the combustion chamber. If the cylinder head has a multitude of large cracks due to freezing it is probably a boat anchor. If the cylinder head has a long crack in the combustion chamber from one end of the chamber to the other and the the crack is extremely wide, that cylinder head is probably a boat anchor as well.

For example, I had a very large pile of 1929-32 cylinder heads and everyone of them were magnafluxed. All were beyond repair except for two and they were cracked as well....but repairable.

Someone that normally repairs cylinder heads will be able to tell you if your cylinder head is a good candidate for his service.

perhaps a foolish question but should head be disassembled to be magnafluxed(to see if cracked from guide to seat)-I deal mostly with alluminum

lexey--I would think that after removing the cylinder head from the block you would need to remove the valves but may not have to remove the rockerarm assembly. My 31 head was magnafluxed by my local machine shop and I had it totally stripped, there was a crack in the exhaust seat. This machine shop dated back three generations and he they stiched it with 5/16" cast iron bolts. That was back in 2002 and I have driven it many thousand miles without a problem. There is a place in St. Louis that does ceramic injection, but they can only repair what can be seen. Cracks that are too far down the exhaust ports generally are not repairable. Rams Cylinder Heads-1-800-726-3911 (St. Louis, Mo.)

hoppy

Thanks-I have totally rebuilt 31 head I may offer for sale but wasn't aware of cracking issues at the time and can't remember if machinist magnafluxed and he has passed on and I want to be sure it's perfect before selling so I guess I'll pull it back apart to be sure

1930 and 1931 cylinder heads are the same.

I have always wondered why someone doesn't make a run of 100 of them with todays better production capabilities....

Surely they would sell.

The cost to manufacture would probably be prohibitive.

If a 3:50 gear kit costs 1000 to own...a head would be out of the question and would quadroople the price of just repairing it. Or finding a good but used one.

What will they do 100 years from now when we are gone and the cars are still here?

Who cares....we won't be here.

...Or chances are they'll only be the museum peices noone remembers driving nore can relate to driving. Kinda like stone age tools noone can relate to working with. (and if you can, your older than i am)