HS00XJ

4 hr job ? took me roughly 18hr by myself . Dang im slow.

Crazy 8s

Assuming there is no machining to be done, these OHV heads shouldn't take more than just a few hours to change in a pro shop by pros. They want $100 an hour to do so they had better be efficient and good at it.

The fellow at home, yeah, that can take a lot longer.

Larry's XJ

I'd like to see any shop do one in 4 man hrs. Maybe Az where you don't deal with as much rust

Crazy 8s

When they slapped 'em together new in Detroit, it took 'em just a few minutes. The toolset we've got can determine how long it takes.

I've got diddly-squat for tools so it would take me a week to do mine... lol

Crazy 8s

..but if I suffer a head gasket in mine, I will either scrap the heap or put another engine in it. There is a Jeep shop here in Phx that will put in warrantied remanned 4.0s for $2200. Install included in the price.

That a shop would ask $2000+ for a head swap is preposterous. Larceny.

almido

I'm glad one other poster caught this.
A "pinned" repair is where they drill a hole at the very end of the crack, tap it and screw a little bolt into it. Sometimes the bolts are actually tapered and if I recall, the hole might be as well, like a pipe thread would be.


Next they drill another hole right in the crack and space it so it drills out a small portion off the first little bolt or "pin" as well as the sides of the crack. Each one overlaps the last. They keep doing this along the entire crack, tying each bolt into the head and into the one before it until they have run out of crack to fill.


After the bolts are ground down they are all peened with an air hammer made for it and sometimes with a gun that sprays steel shot.


There is no welding involved as that would weaken an already compromised casting. What you end up with looks as yours does, like a funny welding job.


This type repair, done correctly is a very dependable way to fix most cracks in cast iron. They use this method to repair cracked diesel blocks all the time. I had it done to a Toyota truck block and it's been fine now for 7 years.


On the other hand...... It's still a non TUPY 0331 head.......

Larry's XJ

Would be nice to have a "book" so I would have an idea which "X" factor to use

Not just for jeeps

Always takes me longer. 1 1/2 X to do head gasket on son's XJ .