I was reading through a head gasket thread and read that when the 89 heads are cracked at the wrong places some just replace them with a newer head to avoid doing a HG job twice. I read the 89 injectors wont fit on a newer head either so one would have to buy a new head and injectors with it. I know the 89 injectors are bigger and many consider them better too, is there a way to save the 89 heads when cracked or a source of 89 style heads that wont crack?

Thank You.

 

I think if you get lucky like some in the past have it won't crack. The non ic injectors I believe are 30% larger then the ic injector. I don't know if there is something you can do or if its just luck of the draw whether they crack or not and if that is the case I have crappy luck. They switched to the innercooled head because of the tolerances and the fact that the metal was so thin between the injector bore and the valve seat.

 

Well as many here I'm cheap with a passion and can't help to think if there is a way to fix this thing with out loosing the engine reliability and performance.

 

You would spend more money having it fixed so that it is good then getting a ACH 7mm head and injectors. I thought about it when I did mine but decided not to even bother. I have a little over 1k into the swap but that is including all the necessary gaskets, POD injectors, the head and all new head bolts.

 

89 head? R we talking about non IC heads in general? What's the symptons of a cracked head in that location?

 

Yes we are talking about the Non innercooled heads in general. They are prone to cracking between the injector hole and the valve seat. I am not sure what the symptoms are all I know is they crack. I had to put a HG on my truck and bought a head before I even started due to the problems G1625S encountered when he did his. I am glad I did because when I pulled the head mine was cracked.

 

Yeah I've heard of them cracking but always wondered what happens when they crack. Do you need the IC injector lines too?

 

Nope just the injectors. The head is basically the same with the exception of the injector bores being 7mm as opposed to the 9mm the non ic heads are.

 

Sweet. Too bad that you have to buy PODs just to get your power back from the nonIC injectors. It sucks that it happens cause the previous owner of my truck did a valve job in 2005.

 

I wish I would of had the money to get a set of 435's or 6x16's but the cheapest way to go was the pods. There have been allot of guys recently that got lucky with there heads and I wish I was one of them but no such luck for me. If you plan on doing a head gasket and have the time or money I would get a 7mm (ic head) have it ported polished and oringed install a set of stud and then your golden, that will let you put almost anything on and not have to worry about popping the hg.

 

Well mine are fine now but I was wondering what action to take in the event the Hg where to leak. I use the truck for work and I did turn the fuel screw in but nothing crazy. I was just asking in case there was a non IC head with the fix to this problem with out having to change also all the injectors. This truck runs with a trailer behind it so I don't thing I want POD's to smoke everything behind it but I guess with the new smaller injectors all I have to do is turn the fuel screw some more ?

Thank You.

 

You don't need pod's I just got them because I wanted a larger then stock injector. You could get away with a stock set of ic injectors. Best thing to do is try and find a complete ic head with injectors for cheap and have the head cleaned up and valves done and have the injectors pop tested and then put it all on the shelf that way if yours does go south all that you'll need is the gasket set and a day to swap it all over.

 

Whats going to kill the head is high EGT. And the reason that intercoolers were put on the dodge trucks were only for EPA emmisions. Cummins went to a smaller injector to help the cracking problem with the heads between the injector hole and the valve seat. And at one point you could get a brass/copper reducer tube to step down a 9mm head to a 7mm injector. The 9mm bore heads are a thing of the past as far as getting even a reman..

 

im one of the lucky ones!!
my heads off and magnafluxed and only minor hairline stuff nothing to worry about!!!
thank god!!!