Swapping Heads...

[78Suburban]

I may pull the heads off my old motor and use them on this motor. A little history:
I pulled the 350 out of my 78 burb because it had 5 oil pressure. Dying bottom end.

I dropped in a '73 camaro 350 that holds 40 psi upon starup, and goes down to 20 psi when fully warmed up. All cylinders hold between 130 and 150 dry. But the top end is FUBAR.

so, I'm gonna swap the heads of the old motor onto this '73 motor.

What gaskets do you use? Do you reuse head bolts? I'm wanting part numbers and prices.
thanks,
James

 

[big dan]

I would order one of these kits from summit.

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?Ntt=gaskets&N=4294925236+4294908216+4294925074+4294840140+115+4294865366&Ntk=KeywordSearch

most of them are $40 or close to it.

 

[78Suburban]

I'm also wondering if I should consider getting a valve job while they're off. Should I bust out the dremel and try my hand at porting and polishing, or is that too much for a noob?
thanks,
James

 

[JDNobodi]

If it was me, I buy new aftermarket heads because it is probably cost you more to rework the old heads. But, if I had choose between the two set of heads, I would check the casting numbers to see which set of heads is more desirable, and spend the money on those heads. I do admit its tempting just take the heads from the motor just sitting on the garage floor because they are readily available.

 

[justhorsinaround]

I responded to your last post with the throwing the known good heads on but what I didn't ask was is this your daily driver?

If it's not and you have the time then do the research.

If it is, I reused my bolts and new gaskets and it's been runnin like a scalded ape ever since.

 

[78Suburban]

this is a play toy. I guess I need to make sure it isn't an overbore before I order gaskets. Anybody want to throw in their 2 cents on the gaskets they most prefer? I'm still deciding if I'm gonna reuse my bolts or not. I'm not looking foward to pulling of my exhaust manifolds off... maybe I can wimp out and just pull them aside. Swapping heads may very well be the easiest thing to do........

Where are the numbers I should look at on the heads? Can I find these numbers and know the specs on the heads? I would rather build the better set......I would actually really like some aluminum heads, but that would cost more than my truck.

 

[pauly383]

Get the numbers on the heads in the area usually covered when the valve covers are on , near the end third of each head . Get all the numbers visible and post em up .

 

[4xcrazy]

You can re-use the headbolts on that motor, not a high performance thing anyways, just make sure all the threads are cleaned off before reinstalling them,,,,get new headgaskets, intake manifold gasket set, but don't use the rubber ends that come with the kit, they usually blow out anyways. Just use a thick bead of RTV on the ends and let it tack up just a bit.

If you know for sure the heads were working fine, without any weird noises, then i would say re-use them, me personally, if the heads get removed, i like to have them freshened up just for sake of knowing they are "fresh"