Bargains or Boat Anchors?

[mshelly]

Passed up some really nice looking 516 heads at the swap meet. No rust,
hardened seats, big valves, ported, good price... but man, how do you know?
Are they cracked, ported right, too thin somewhere?

Any general advise on big-ticket engine components from private parties

[Walkercolt]

"CAVEATE EMPORATOR"......Latin for "Let the buyer beware!" Look, original big block pieces are pushing 30-40 years old. I wouldn't trust any 30 year-old CASTING without Magna-Fluxing, Ultra-sonic testing and pressure testing. As cast iron(low grade steel really) ages, it loses strength and becomes more brittle and remember all the times that chuck of metal has been very, very hot and cooled, causing micro-fissures, microscopic cracks that only get larger with time. I'm sorry, but new Mopar BB head castings aren't that exspensive, and they're new, never been over-torqued, run under a blower, ran out of coolant, ran WAY too lean(HOT!!!!),get the idea? Sure some of them are good, but unless the guy will take the part back if it proves to be bad, how DO you know? Let the restoration guys have the original pieces, unless it's a bone-yard BB w/under 30K miles on it. I know of more than a dozen of these in the Tulsa area that you can buy for $500+/-, less than scrap metal price, and the salvage WILL garrentee them not to have cracks.

[Dr. Righteous]

GOOD ADVICE! Unless you know the seller (personally, a friend) don't buy used swap meet heads, rods, ect. Usually the seller isn't out to sell you a pair of cracked heads but chances are he really doesn't know the true condition of them, they are just part of a lot of stuff he got by swapping around. You won't know the heads are bad until you spend some money on magnafluxing them or they fail on your engine. The seller isn't going to refund your money on used heads; if you ever see him again. It isn't worth the pain. I have bought my share of swap meet junk and gotten burned. The old saying of "pay alittle now or a lot later" really holds true.

[tsteiner61]

What swap meet did you go to? I've been looking to check one out lately, but don't know where they are?

[mshelly]

"CAVEATE EMPORATOR"......Latin for "Let the buyer beware!"

Point taken Thanks!

Ts61,

I was at Ohlone this past Sunday. A little disappointing but hey, anything is better than nothing.

[Dr. Righteous]

I know a few people that buy large 'lots' of old MoPar parts from people and match up heads odd ball rods (that appear to be the same size) and sell them at shows. I would say 90% of what they are selling they know no history about. The stuff that they know for sure are good peices they want a premium for. Their bargains and good deals are not worth carrying to the car.

If it sounds too good to be true......Keep walking.

[PRO]

Buying used engine pieces is always a risk,unfortunately sometimes its the only place to find what your looking for,1st consider the track record of a part:BB heads are not known for cracking in fact Ive only seen 1 and that was a 74 casting on a motorhome,2nd inspect it and reinspect,cracks are most common between the valves and may look like a scratch only,3rd talk to the seller usually 2 times will reveal "ALL" the facts,if he knows nothing at all then Id only pay scrap price,if for instance he had new valves installed then I might pay what I could sell the valves for just in case,actually you dont want 516 heads,early ones had NO cast in rocker pedestal,and had 1.60 exhaust valves,even if you install bigger exh valves it doesnt bring them up to stock 906 flow specs as the port floor is much higher and shorter overall....but then again if they were fresh and your pick up needs new heads and you could get them for $100-150 then maybe.........PRO.......

[SubLime440]

I've got an extra set of complete 516 heads... pulled them off my 440 and went with a set of ported/milled 906's.... They are taking up shelf space and seem to be in pretty decent shape (on car for about 4 years since being redone.. or so I was told when I bought the car)... I'll let them go for next to nothing because I need space in the garage and I have no use for them... Just an FYI if your looking for some heads cheap...

[goose]

Hey Sublime, any idea how much shipping would be for those 516's? What's been done to them? A friend of mine has a 400 that he's looking to bump the compression on...

[SubLime440]

I believe they are stock.... Supposedly (Again I cannot confirm this) but they had valve job and new valves and springs put in them... They ran fine on my 440 and the car was restored about 3 - 4 years ago... They look to be in very good shape.. and I didn't have any leaks or cracks... I don't know if the 1.60 exhaust valves are still there or he went to the 1.74's... I really didn't look. I just took them off the car about 3 months ago... and shelved them... haven't looked at them since... I have the original valve covers and Rocker assemblies too that I don't want...since I went to Roller Rockers...I have the cam and lifters for that matter too... I don't have alot of space in the garage and need to get rid of some of this stuff... If you are interested let me know and I can check on shipping...

[goose]

I'd definitely be interested if they have the 1.74's in them.