Because performance heads are worth like what... 3 times the price...and other upgrades would be needed.

 

Well, I must apologize, your suggestion was indeed decent... A New stock head... costs 853$...ONE STOCK HEAD. lol. So, they're actually more expensive than performance heads. Nice. About 2.5 times the price I was expecting. If I was to do that, I'd simply get that 2004 6.0 the guy guy was offering me for 1200 though, tow my truck to this mechanic I know and have him help me put her in.

So Head replacement is out of the question.

So now I have a New worry, by extracting that damned screw myself, I'm damaging the head, so I'll be shooting myself if I damage it too much to even re-thread it.

it's either drill it out myself and risk severe damage, or take the head off and bring it to a machine shop. Well, I'll see what a couple hours of drilling does. If any other type of damage other than to the thread occur, then i may have to give up and take the head off. I already disintegrated a small part of the hole's opening.

 

I heard a leak in my manifolds the other day and i went by a custom exhaust shop near me to get a price quote and he took a look at it. I have a messed up screw in each of my headers as well. I am putting new one's on because of it and he is charging me $100-$150 depending on pain to take the bolts out and headers off and machine the heads. Might want to look into a nice custom shop near you

 

lol... dude... either you don't have the same problem I have or that guy doesn't know what he's getting into. I took the suggestion people have been offering, just contacted 3 shops, two exhaust shops, 1 engine shop.

They all gave me the same damn answer... they'll charge depending on how long it takes to get that bolt out, and re-tap the hole. 2 of them told me straight out that in many cases, the cost may outweigh the value of the head!! Two of them asked what kind of bit I was using, "Cobalt and Carbide tipped". One of them told me they use high speed drill bits because it's more cost effective, if they are forced to go with better bits due to the hardness of the metal they charge more??? Come on! One of the guys who told me the cost may outweigh the value of the head suggested that I keep doing it myself since I already have the proper equipment.

So, am I just looking up the wrong type of places? Is it possible that there are no shops that can offer a more effective service than to use a heavy duty hand drill with cobalt bits such as mine?

 

My apologies maybe it is different when i looked at it, it appeared to be the same but maybe it is different. Or maybe I just found a really good shop or maybe this guy has no clue what he's about to get himself into haha. All in all sorry for jumping at you and acting like you didn't ask a shop, i didn't know my bad. I hope that someone else can help you more then i did haha.

 

dude....you can get a single 5.3L head for $50, completely ready to bolt on. The total cost to pull the head and put a new one is $30 for a head gasket, $25 for head bolts, and maybe $30 worth of coolant. It's a piece of cake. Quit screwing around with the drilling and just pull the head. You will sit and drill that thing for hours with no luck, trust me.

 

Trust you?? Oh man... trust me,,, I trust you on that... I've already been drilling for hours, and i may be doing half a millimeter per day... the bolts on these, although breakable, are also impossible to drill through. But where can I find a head at this price? Are you referring to a scrap yard?

 

I have a couple sets for sale right now for $80 plus shipping.

 

Really now? Now that's interesting. I may go that way...I'll call a couple scrapyards first. How much wear are on those heads?

 

The short block the 706s came off of still had the cross hatching marks on the cylinder walls and the rest of the engine was clean so it had to be fairly low miles.