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My '02 Silverado w/5.3 (T) has been losing coolant for a while now. I traced the leak to the infamous Castech 706 heads that found their way onto the engine at the factory. I'm not really interested in remanufactured/used heads....regardless of their condition. I've seen several heads offered that are 'new castings' and I'd like to know a little more about them.

Here's a set on Ebay that state they are cast thicker in the critical areas. Anybody ever used this vendor or casting? They don't seem like a bad deal from where I sit....
4.8/5.3 Replacement Heads
Anybody have a better source for GOOD quality replacements...I'm all ears.

greasemykey

iTrader: (5)

texas speed. best customer service you could ask for. give them a call tomorrow and let them help you get the heads you need.

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Thanks, will check them out.

1FastBrick

iTrader: (17)

Those are an over sea's casting. I believe those are the Raw base casting used for the Pro Comp Motorsport CNC ported cylinder heads.

Some have complained about the quality on the CNC ported versions so I can't imagine those would be to much better. Really hard to say with out seeing them in person.

I would get a reworked set through one of our sponsors. If your looking to keep it fairly stock, Richard at WCCH has a set of heads for the 5.3L that he offers starting around $899 with exchange or just under $1200 out right.

GREENSIERRA

give texas speed a call.
they hooked me up with my PRC heads and I love them

terravast4

iTrader: (25)

love my PRC heads!!

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Texas Speed heads are just way more money than I want to spend. I just got off the phone with National Cylinder Head. They offer a remanufactured original GM (Castech...yeah I know) head that they add material to in the critical areas to prevent the cracking issue. These heads are offered with a LIFETIME warranty to NOT crack....ever. Pretty impressive, IMO. The rest of the hardware and workmanship have your typical 12 month warranty. They are complete, with valves, retainers, seals, springs, etc....ready to bolt on.

I know I said I didn't want reman heads, but that lifetime warranty against cracking is awfully attractive. Nobody else offers such a warranty. And the price....$420/pair....includes shipping....with core return (prepaid back shipping). The heads in the Ebay link are in fact Prostar/Pro Comp (Chinese) castings. The reviews on the net are about 50/50. I think I'm going to gamble and try these reman heads from NCH.

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So I received my new (rebuilt) heads last week. Luckily, they sent cast # 862's and they don't have the Castech logo on them anywhere. So I got me a set of better casting heads.

Anybody needing to do this and wanting to tackle it yourself, do yourself a favor and get all your necessary gaskets and new head bolts through Advance Auto Parts website and google search for a coupon code. The max discount per transaction is $50, but you can do multiple transactions to receive maximum savings. So far, I've saved about $150 using these coupons just for this head swapping project alone.

Made the decision to go ahead and swap the water pump since I have it torn down that far. Plus I noticed that rotten AC belt down there....you know, the one you couldn't see without taking stuff apart. It'll be a easy swap with everything out of the way, too. Bought some engine flush to run through the engine once everything is buttoned back up. I'll pour it in and let it idle for about 10 minutes then drain it while it's good and hot. I bought some of Advance's store brand oil (currently on sale) and a cheap oil filter to use for about a week until I change it again to try to get the rest of the contaminated oil out....then I'll use what I normally use during the next change.

I came to a good stopping point this evening as I got it torn all the way down to just unbolting the heads themselves. Only issue I've run into so far...which is where I'm at now...is that I have to unbolt the headers at the collectors because they won't move back far enough away to access the outer row of head bolts on either side.

I'm using the Ebay cheapies I installed last year. They're already almost touching the frame rail on the passenger side, so there's no way the you can access the head bolts over there. Driver's side head bolts aren't much better. This is the only reason that I'll need to go under the truck for this project. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to for whatever reason...but I do. Other than that, everything else has been smooth sailing. I'm about 3 1/2 hours involved at this point.

1ownerCHEVY

Headers and head swaps don't play good together lol. Mines were welded but had enough movement up and down that I could get the heads out. It was a huge gamble but I actually took the heads out with the spark plugs still in. It was easier than trying to wedge between the headers to get to the plugs. Everything worked out though. Nice find on the heads by the way, those damn castechs man!!