[turboturtle]

Hey guys
I need some opinions on buying a 2nd hand cylinder head.
Need my car good for as cheap as possible.

Cheers

[bumstein]

What car?

[turboturtle]

bumstein wrote:

What car?

Oops my bad, 1995 Suzuki vitara 2 door.
Not completely sure if the head is cracked yet but I'm just finding out just in case.

[bumstein]

Ah righto!! I've no experience with Vit bits sorry

[turboturtle]

bumstein wrote:

Ah righto!! I've no experience with Vit bits sorry

All good mate, thanks anyway

[cairns27]

Oil is the radiator ? cheapest way is "chemiweld" or similar..

bye

[jdk81]

As above chemiweld/silverseal etc will kinda patch things for a while.

How DIY will it be?
Repairing the head or buying a replacement head $
Getting it crack tested?
A quality gasket set (dont cheap out, re-torqueing g16b head bolts suck
Then any items you may change whiule its all apart to save issues later and try to fix the reason for it cracking.
Front main, timing belt, water pump, new thermostat, rad cap, and re oil the viscous hub.

What if you go through all of that and find the block was cracked too?

Or look for a low km replacement from a wreck, which is probably my choice, as they never seem to last once opened.

If you find a you-pull-it wreckers, the motor with warranty will be the same cost as a head (from FB or auszookers) and headgasket.
Be prepared to bend over if getting a head/motor from a traditional wreckers.

[turboturtle]

Yes, there is oil in the radiator.

Im thinking if it has a cracked head, it would be a smarter move to spend the extra money and put a new head on it.

[frak]

That is what i am doing soon. Got a head from china coming for 350 delivered. Cheaper than ebay or various suppliers for what would still be chinese heads...

So far u can get nitrided vqlves quite cheap from oz or from the states for about the same price (about 175 for 16). Springs look to be a suzi only part not sure if i will replace but prefer to.

while replacing the head i want to change the cams a bit. Can only get reground so that means i want another cam shaft to avoid having the car off the road for a few weeks.

[turboturtle]

frak wrote:

That is what i am doing soon. Got a head from china coming for 350 delivered. Cheaper than ebay or various suppliers for what would still be chinese heads...

So far u can get nitrided vqlves quite cheap from oz or from the states for about the same price (about 175 for 16). Springs look to be a suzi only part not sure if i will replace but prefer to.

while replacing the head i want to change the cams a bit. Can only get reground so that means i want another cam shaft to avoid having the car off the road for a few weeks.

Hey mate, id be interested to know how you go with all that and the around abouts cost, looks like mine is just a gasket but it would be good to know for the future.

[frak]

Well mine could be. Cant have the car off the road for more than a weekend so cant risk finding its the head instead.

If i do replace the head it would annoy me too much not to do some work on the head...

Valve springs from suzi are $200 all up looks like oem is the only option.

[jono165]

I had a 1992 vitara motor in my Sierra. It's either cracked the head or done the head gasket. I'm assuming cracked head, they're known for it. I bought a whole donor baleno to replace the motor as it's the most cost effective in my opinion.

I'm keeping the baleno manifold. The coolant flow is totally different through the head compared to jimny/vitara which I think is partially why they crack heads. It does involve rewiring and a ecu swap though.