first off. my backyard looks small now that my truck occupies about a quarter of it lol i pulled the head this morning and am surprised at what i found. here's a shot of the head.



i do not see a single crack! from what pictures i've seen in other threads, any cracks at the injector bores are very noticeable.

#1 - #2 - #3 - #4 - #5 - #6 -

over 500K miles and i'm happy to see a crosshatch pattern in all cylinders.



the coolant passages in the head and gasket have a build up of some kind of gunk. possibly scale and calcium? i think it was slowly, over time, killing itself. not bad for nearly 20 years of service and never having a single problem. this is the first time the head's ever been pulled. heck, it's the first time the truck was ever towed. never had any engine problems before now.

 

the KDP will get killed this week as well. i ordered the kit tonight and am now just playing the waiting game. anyone think i need a new tensioner assembly? that's rust powder and that can't be a good sign.



also, i can't tell if the impeller tips on the water pump have rust on them or if they got heated. judging by the color, i'd guess rust. definitely not reusing it. gonna buy an i/c water pump. i hear they are a little better flowing.



lastly, i think i found a reason to get me a crossflow radiator. i think when the head gasket blew, the compression from the cylinders pressurized my cooling system far beyond 16 lbs. POP goes the radiator. this is just above the lower neck/outlet.

 

head doesn't look bad at all. I would still have it pressure tested and magged at a machine shop. There's a LOT of work there, as you well know. Hate to see you do it twice. Water pump is a cheap, no-brainer replacement, as is the radiator. Cylinders look just like my engine at 479k Good luck with the reassembly. Don't forget to clean the head bolt holes in the block, otherwise your torque values will be off.

 

looks ok to me, i'd still take it to a machine shop though.

Are you gonna put the thick .020 marine gasket on it ? you can get it from cummins.

And don't forget to do the drop test on the head bolts to see if they're good or just throw them away and buy new ones.

 

i'm still gonna try and find a good machine shop locally to me and have it hot tanked and magna-fluxed. i've thought about the .020 marine gasket, but i don't wanna lose compression and make it hard to start and i don't believe i'll have to machine the head that much. but if it comes to it, i'll get the marine gasket. i just need the cummins parts number for it. as far as the head bolts go, i'm not even going to check them on the gauge that came with the kit, i'm just gonna buy new ones. if i do a drop test, if they have a thud to them they're bad, right?

 

Man I wish my head looked that good when I took it off. Would have saved myself $500 on that job. That would have been almost enough to do head studs .

 

Oh come on you won't lose that much compression. probably won't even be noticable.

Free89W350 has the part # for the thick head gasket.

If the bolts thud, throw em' away. I would just buy new ones to be safe.

 

greg (G1625S) wrote that his was a little harder to start with the new .020 gasket when he put the new 7mm head on his. if the head needs to be machined enough or at all, i'll get it. i'm getting new head bolts. what kinda deal can i get on 12mm arp studs? i read that the 14mm kit is about $600, but i don't need to go that big.

 

Looks like you got a good one.

 

mine looked the same way when i pulled it, i put a .20 gasket on it, had it hot tanked and put it back on, mine had 300000 on the odometer.

 

should i remove the valves before having the head machined (if it needs it) and magna-fluxed?

 

If you are going to do that, keep everything in line as it came out of your head. Hopefully, your shop will run your hed through the spray washer afterwards. Through new valve seals on it when you reassemble the head. Don't worry about the keepers. I'd update the springs to 60lbs's since your in there.. Put ARP head studs in and bypass the .20 head gasket. If your valve reccesion is in spec, forget that bandaid .20 gasket. Your not going to O ring the head.......Take it to a shop that knows about DIESEL factory specs. Ask first. If they don't have the right answers....Walk away. Cheaper to do it ONE time....

 

Are you thinking pushrods on small cam and big cam's??? Thudding head bolts is a new one to me...Oil filled pushrods/tube's on small cams and big cams..yes.........

 

If they ping they're good

If they thud they're a dud (no good)

 

Your thinking of pushtube's. Not headbolts. Thats why Cummins gives one a head bolt gauge with a head gasket set................