aluminum cylinder heads in mud holes????

[blazin_blazer]

im sorry if this has been covered here before, but repetition helps memory im thinking of building another small block & ive been wondering, are aluminum heads really as easy to mess up while playing in the mud as ive heard some people say? ive heard people talk of aluminum heads cracking or warping when they are hot & they get sprayed by water from rad fan spraying when in deep ...is this a legit worry? im debating on a new set of heads, either 1 of theses...anybody have any experience, good or bad?

http://paceperformance.com/i-625568...haust-runner-65cc-chamber-up-to-530-lift.html

or

http://paceperformance.com/i-625514...n-aluminum-cylinder-head-complete-1-head.html

 

[84400]

If your running mud I would run a clutch fan or Electric fans u can turn off when going in deep water. A lot of guys run aluminum headed mud rigs. I have no personal experience tho.

 

[454Sub]

I would deff not run a mechanical fan in the mud with water. Cracked heads will be a moot point if the fan becomes loose and exits the vehicle either through the hood, or the radiator. Iv seen both, and with the hood incident, we were just hanging over the hood looking for a strange noise that it was emitting when it was running, slammed the hood turned around and it cut right though the hood and landed 20ft away. That being said, I wouldnt worry to much about the water, unless you dump it into a pond. Iv seen guys wash alum headed motors right after running, is it good..... probably not, but they never cracked a head. It wouldnt be my first concern, but i wouldnt forget about it either.

 

[gonefishin]

I am going to be running aluminum afr's in the mud atv's and such are all aluminum and I have had mine overheating the dunk it completly underwater hundreds of times I don't think its a problem probably more of a cheap quality head failure

 

[blazin_blazer]

yea, i guess thats a mod i need to do anyway, my mech clutch fan has sprayed my engine bay a time or 2, depending on how deep the streams get across trails...i have had water up on pass side of intake manifold while truck still running...trail busting...just top pass valve cover barely sticking out water, truck was hoodless because i had this

...water was up against base of carb mount on intake..1-2 inch below that black spacer..truck nosed down at 45* to pass side..man wish i had pics..i was being ballsy and driving up a stream bed when it was flooded, there was more water than i had anticipated, i had driven up this stream bed when it was dry but almost sunk it that 1 time....cylinder head was completely submerged, spark plugs & all...stuck..but truck was running the whole time..buddy ran home on atv came back w/his truck & pulled me out 45 min tops underwater...it didn't seem to hurt anything, it didn't even get in my oil! it did kill the alt over next few days as well as battery, they were completely under tho..but thats all i broke.... now if i had an aluminum headed motor & done that would that have been damaging? we do swamp engines on occassion..i've seen broken cranks from motors sinking enough they ingested water..not intentional stuff...well i guess sometimes it intentional as ive seen people sink tryin to cross a cattle pond...

gonefishin i think atv's are completely different, my honda foreman has sunk & had milkshake oil several times and been flushed out and filled with good oil & its still good, ...like you mentioned they are all aluminum..i think the problem is having the dissimilar metals coming together..cooling contracting at different rates.. IE.. cast iron block/ aluminum head

 

[4X4HIGH]

That is a myth. I think what you're refering to is people adding water/coolant to an overheating engine and cracking heads and that can happen and will happen quicker with iron heads versus aluminum.