My truck recently failed a smog check. And when checking things over, I found that it has three leaking exhaust valves (with a BIG leak on number 2) as well as a blown head gasket on the number 2. The local machine shop quoted me $375 to do a valve job, clean, resurface, and pressure test. But this doesn’t include any new valves, worn valve guides, or other unforeseen issues. Furthermore, the head is over 30 years old and has already been resurfaced at least once.

This has me looking at replacement heads on RockAuto. For about the same cost as the machine work, I can get a new head complete with valves, valvesprings/retainers/keepers, and a cam. It’s also new, and should theoretically be free from issues like accumulated warpage or any potential cracks. On the other hand, many say that these cheap Chinese heads are vastly inferior to even an old OEM head.

So what do you think? Are these heads actually a good deal? Or is it better to work with what I have?

 

It seems this question comes up more and more as good factory castings get rarer. I watched a curmudgeonly old head rebuilder on YouTube use a Chinese casting for a Nissan engine (Bear Butler, I think. I'll try to find the video).

 

Buy a quality head- but I would send out to a good machine shop ang get it gone over, too much work to not check.