8ba Head Replacement

[F-ONE]

Originally Posted by slowspoke

Howdy folks! I've received a positive prognosis from the machinist regarding my 8ba; however, it doesn't appear the heads will survive the resurrection. I have no real grand vision for this motor as I simply bought it out of curiosity. She'll likely end up on a test stand for a year or two as I look to progress this project into something with four wheels. That being said I didn't have any real intention of hot rodding this motor; however, now that I must replace he heads it has me thinking... I think he economical choice would be to seek out some replacement 8bas or maybe seek a set of EACs. Head replacement wasn't on my radar as I wasn't suspecting this issue to arise. Now I'm in the market and would appreciate some guidance regarding replacement/sourcing.

First thing....
If the damage to the heads is visual crack damage I would insist that the block be magnafluxed.
If the heads froze and cracked.....usually the block does too somewhere.

The earlier 59A style Pre-49/48 24 stud heads will fit with little modification. This gives you some more options and I like the look of the earlier heads.