I have the oppurtunity to buy a pair of stock LT1 heads off a guy. The heads have about 110,000 on them and they look in good shape from the human eye. I plan on buying these heads and having them ported and polished, so my car isn't taken apart for a couple weeks while there getting done.

Here's the problem; the number five spring is cracked and he said they were okay. The reason he is selling them is because he put a pair of ported ones on his car. I saw the spring and a quarter inch of the coil part on the spring is cracked off. What would cause such a thing?

He wants 170 for them, but with those many miles and not really knowing for sure if they aren't cracked or anything I don't really want to pay that much money for them. To get them pressure tested around were I live is 50 dollars a head. How much should I offer him?

Thanks for the help

 

I don't think that's too bad at all. Don't worry about the cracked spring, you will want to replace those anyway. If he hasn't had any problems with them on his car, I would think they were ok. I would deffiantly have them pressure tested though.

 

Heads with that many miles will need to be reconditioned, but unless they are cracked or severely warped they should be usable as "cores". You will need to have them milled (for flatness) and have a valve job. Possibly, you will need new valve guides. Obviously, you should be getting new springs anyway, so a broken spring doesn't mean much in and of itself.

Rich Krause

 

I forgot to mention that the heads were already milled, but not exactly sure how much. I plan on a getting bigger valves in the heads anyways. So, I guess I will be getting them.