head work

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 6:02 pm

does anyone have a rough idea of how much it might cost to weld up/fix/whatever a cracked head? (EA82T heads - i'm northside brisbane)

obviously it depends on the amount of work required, but has anyone done it and had really good results?

my engine is loosing more and more coolant, chemiweld did squat so i think my engine problems are getting a bit serious. i simply dont have the money to do the EJ20T swap as i want to do it just yet

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 6:41 pm

A repaired crack will usually crack again. Your best bet is a replacement MPFI head.
It could actually be cheaper to buy a MPFI head and have a machining shop put the required holes in it.

I have a cracked MPFI head you can have for cheap (real cheap, i dont have an EA82T anymore) that you could get the machine shop to copy so you dont have to have your car off the road. PM me

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:39 pm

How much you ask? I paid $440 for a pair welded up by allheadservice in smelbourne, that was weld and service and freight both ways. They actually tried to sell me a pair they had that they converted to EA82T. They drilled & tapped the oil feed hole, drilled the oil return and fitted the return hose up. They reckon their welded heads never crack and for this you may need to fit their air bleed set up, you'd need to ask.

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 6:38 pm

and now it's getting even worse. after a short no more than 10 minute drive, the coolant was bubbling in the engine (sounding like the passenger side head) and it's using heaps of coolant.

i'm seriously considering just taking the plunge, going poor for a while and getting an EJ20 turbo, more than likely a forester engine

wrxer · Post by **wrxer** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 8:07 pm

i bodged a magna head up with magic metal, draw filed it flat and got 12months or about 20000k from it! found a replacement but never fitted it,sold car and left number if they needed another head. never heard back

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 10:20 pm

filled the coolant lines in the head completely???

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:24 pm

twilightprotege wrote:i'm seriously considering just taking the plunge, going poor for a while and getting an EJ20 turbo, more than likely a forester engine

Unless you want a very crazy L I'd recommend going an NA EJ - a good power upgrade, cheaper yet still tame enough not to be over the top IMO.

But since its an RX I can see why you'd want the EJ turbo...

Cheers

Bennie

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 7:03 am

It may pay to do a few searches at USMB for cracked EA82T head info .
I think I remember reading that it wasn't the crack between the valve seats that leaks coolant - I think that was a crack in the exhaust ports somewhere .

Anyway people seem to get cracked heads repaired with some success , depends on the head and the skills of the person doing the welding and machining I suppose .

A .

spike · Post by **spike** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:45 am

we had this in my mums l seires cant remmber the engine code
the guys we asked couldnt gaurntee it wouldnt crack so we bought a new motor from the wreckers (full car actually) with blown HG and had it checked dunno how the pricing ended up couple of years back now

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:50 pm

My heads had cracks between the valves when i rebuilt the engine, the machine shop tested em and they were fine. But yeah a crack in the exhaust port will leak coolant and cause you hassles.

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 5:45 pm

yeah it's starting to splutter under load (sometimes even a tiny bit). a new engine is really the only money well spent solution

Porty · Post by **Porty** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:11 pm

I have 2 heads in the shop at the moment..

One has had cracks and has been repaired and one without cracks..

When i finally get them back on the car ill keep everyone posted and let you know how it all goes..

I hav a doc here that has been written by a repair company... Maybe some truth in it, n maybe not.. U be the judge... I can't speak from experience yet.. lol

ps. hope the link works..

phillatdarwin · Post by **phillatdarwin** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:51 pm

so it is ok to run your engine with cracks in your heads .
as it says in the doc

Porty · Post by **Porty** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 5:45 pm

I proly wouldn't cause i reckon the cracks would just gradually get worse... I know the crack i had in my old head had been peened over once, but there was also a crack travelling down the intake port.. I don't know if that arose after or before the peening was done..?

In saying that i never got the head tested to see if it was bad or not.. It would b good to see if someone has put a cracked head in their car then seen how long it lasts..

Guess its the only way 2 know 4 sure if the person that wrote the doc is a crack head or not.