replacing the head gasket on my 98 and the machine shop tells me the head is cracked. what would be the best replacment, 12v or 24v? any good sources for a replacment? dodge wants 1800 and cummins wants 1100.

 

The 12v and 24v heads are a bit different, so youre stuck with the 12v. I think piers, scheid or one of those big diesel performance places had complete heads with 60lb springs for 900$. Id recommend having it o-ringed and decked (or at least checked) for flatness with a gasket of the thickness needed to make up for the amount removed in machining. Id also look into studs.
You might also want to have the head ported to flow better while its all apart.
Usually these heads crack from repeated overtemps.. you got a decent turbo on there?

 

Thanks for the reply, I found one from Cummins for $1100

 

www.piersdiesel.com is what youd want to check. They sell OEM heads for 595$ according to the current price sheet. Looks like o-ringing and porting are available too.
Heck I might be giving them a call in a couple months.

 

Be sure and check the heads carefully as there are heads being offered that are not OEM Cummins heads. These heads are being manufactored in China..... There are new true Cummins heads available in the $750 range from performance shops, from Cummins the same head is $1100 + core.

Doug

 

considering cost + hassle of shipping, $1100 my total expense for the Cummins with warranty aint that bad....

 

Doug, sounds like you feel the heads made in China are inferior. Why would that be?

 

There is the question of metallurgy, we just don't know the quality of material. There is also the question of wall thickness, the China heads I have seen weigh quite a bit less than the Tupy heads. I do know of a couple of guys who have experienced cracking issues but its too early to judge the longevity.

I guess for me using a OEM head is a known product..... With the price difference between the OEM unit and a China unit so small its not worth it for me to have a problem. The China heads may last a long time and perform well its just the that jury is still out IMHO.

Doug

 

Furthermore, ..independant tests have shown that they really are inferior. They test the metallurgy by a crush test, and these Chinese heads didn't fare well at all with this test!

 

Hmmm. The head I got from Piers was in a box with Chinese all over it. Hard to say if that's the box my head came in, since they o-ringed and ported it. But I would be surprised if they did machine work like that on an inferior casting. I would think the purchasers of these castings from the Chinese would specify percentages of each specific material used in the castings. I hear what you're saying about being lighter as suspicious. But I thought the idea of outsourcing things like that was the savings on labor since their labor practices are nothing like ours, not to mention the environmental constraint factor.

 

The reason to outsource is to save $$......

 

If/when I need a new head ill be getting mine from Doug. check out his site, he has some awsome prices and its a cummins head.

 

Check out alabama cylinderhead i have one on my 89 15,000 hard miles pushing 40+ lbs boost ... so far no problems comes with all new valves and springs (has the tapered 60# spring ) pretty heavy casting in my opinion when compared to the stock 89 head... i think i paid about 450.00 with shipping .... i figured if they made an inferior product u would hear about it and then they wouldent be selling them...

 

I would think that PDR would use a good quality head since they have a very good reputation as far as I know, and if it is a good quality head then that is a very good price!