Originally posted by Mainer54:
My questions are; Are some casting numbers better than others for crack resistance (I've seen 848's recommended in past posts as a good head) or are they all just a crap shoot? Also any tips when looking at them, short of making the machine shop guy rich magnafluxing all the 235 heads in the country to find a good one?
All of the Chevy six heads have a problem with cracking, and there aren't to many left without cracks. Most cracks can be welded by a competent machine shop. The 848 head is the preferred head due to compression.
Finally, I'm going to go ahead and do a re-ring on the block. What are the the telltale signs to look for to determine if any anti-freeze got to the bearings? (ie: what would they look like?)
I've never seen bearing ruined by anti-freeze, so I don't know. However, if you are going to ring the engine, you should get the crank ground and new bearings, so it really doesn't matter, other than for curiousity. I'll let someone with more knowledge answer here.
