I realise this head has had water damage but is the ring around the entry from the combustion chamber normal (from manufacturing) or is it the start of cracking/failure. The hole between it and the intake valve appears to be just pitting but can it be repaired (is the head weldable?)? Any advise would be appreciated.
I'd hazard a WAG that the ring indicates that the original thread for the precombustion chamber was stripped out sometime in the past, and a heavy duty thread repair insert has been installed. The head corrosion is not too severe, welding it up is expensive, I'd simply put the head back and run it. But replace those valves first, and check the seat inserts for damage and looseness before you clean them up.
Thank you OzDozer, my son is trying to convince me it is a pin hole through to the coolant system......but I am not sure a water passage could be that close in an area that takes such great force?
The head material is pretty thick around that area, that's for sure. If there was a pinhole there, you would've had combustion gases in the coolant (top radiator tank) when the engine was running. The other concern is whether there's any cracking between the valve seats. If the engine has been run hot much, it will have a crack between the seats, the D330/D333 is bad for this. Make sure you magnaflux that area. If you find a crack there, it will definitely need to be welded then, or the head replaced. Was the engine running O.K. when you pulled it down, or was there a reason it was pulled down?
Ok, I will check for combustion gases when, and if, I get it running. I bought the Cat 955h for scrap value to replace my MF300, which was completely clapped out, apart from the engine!. I only want it for odd jobs around the farm. It has not run for the past 10 years and unfortunately was full of water (one cylinder had rusted to the bore, another was like new! I have just put the head back on. I was not happy at all with the way it was sitting. Normally head 'clunk' flat and you know they are sitting true but this one could rock a couple of mm from side to side on its locating lugs. Took it off and checked it 3 times, could see nothing wrong. I am putting it down to the 'rubbery'water passage seals which look like they rely on compression to seal. I hope I am right!
I've never seen a random crack that precise. An insert of some sort makes more sense.
Those rubber seals are a PIA to fit properly, and you must be extremely careful that the head goes down level and spot-on for alignment - or you'll crush the metal part of the seals. Also note that these metal tubes are water directors, they have an arrow on them which must be aligned as indicated in the manual. The best way to replace these heads is to lower them with some kind of mechanical lowering system, so you can control the lowering and positioning easily.
OzDozer thanks for the advice. I do use a block & tackle set up directly above the head. It has always seemed the best alternative when working by yourself.
I have been trying to buy a head gasket set for this engine but it is proving difficult, I'm told there are none available in Australia. They can get one in from the U.S. but they don't know what is in the kit, or the price all up. Do any members have a business they could recommend for D330t parts (D330 parts seem quite easy to get, not sure why)?
1553 - Get onto Glen Blakely at EPSS in Toowoomba, he's a gun on sourcing IPD aftermarket engine parts for Cats. He's extremely helpful and knowledgeable. He used to work for IPD at their Sydney premises for 4 years. If IPD can't supply, he'll know of other sources. Email him from their site. Earthmoving Parts & Service Solutions Your earthmoving parts & service solution. Your experts in Procurement, Part Sales & Supply, Component Reconditioning Services, Machinery Sales & Disposal and International Exports. Proudly Australian owned, servicing businesses locally and International. www.epss.com.au
Thank you OzDozer, I have emailed him. Tilleys, in Toowoomba, also seem to be quite helpful.
Tilleys might be helpful, but watch their charges, they're out to make a million on every deal. I asked them once about purchasing a secondhand ROPS for my 931B traxcavator, they wanted $2500 for one - and they never had one any, anyway! I built my own, for not much more than $500.
Maybe 2S9004 might be the part number for the bare head. It is the number for a non turbo one.
RC, there shouldn't be any difference between the turbo head and the naturally aspirated head. The engine differences are a lower compression ratio for the turbo engine, different pistons, and oil cooled pistons.
OzDozer, you mentioned the rubber seals between the head and block need to go in a certain way; the new parts arrived today but there are no marks/or directional arrows on either the metal "ferrules" or the rubber seals. The ferrules look to be the same at either end but I discovered upon measuring that one end is 1mm bigger circumference. Not only that, but the rubber seal have a slight (about 1mm) flange at one end. So now I have discovered I have put some of the seals onto the ferrules up the wrong way. I still haven't been able to source a repair manual, so now I am unsure which way up to install them! Any advice would be appreciated.
Not from the manual for your engine but is a D330.
Thank you RC, that clarifies it to some extent.
Yeah sorry 1553, I forgot the positioning arrow was on the head, it's been over 50 years since I did up one of these engines! The important thing is to ensure the ferrules are not cocked as the head goes down onto the block.
I installed the new head gasket today and re-assembled the engine. It doesn't sound like it is interested in starting. I'm still getting a bit of air out of no.4 cylinder delivery line, bleeding it at the injector. I would like to try bleeding it somewhere on the injector pump but can't find anything that resembles a bleeding point. It does have a valve at the top of the filter housing with drainage tube attached, a continuous flow of fuel flows when I open it. Is there somewhere else I should be looking?
If you have fuel with no air in at the top of the filter, you're halfway there. You now have to bleed the air out of the injection pump and injector lines. Crack the nuts about half a turn that hold the injector lines on top of the pump, and then pressurise the fuel flow with the priming pump, or by pressurising the fuel tank. You can pressurise the fuel tank by wrapping a rag around an airline tightly, then jamming the rag tightly in the tank iller neck, and applying some air pressure. It doesn't need a lot of pressure, 30 to 50Kpa is enough. Once you have air-free fuel flowing from the top of the injector pump, tighten those nuts, then loosen the nuts at the injectors, and crank the engine until air-free fuel flows from the pipes at the injectors. You can also bleed the lines at the injectors by keeping up fuel pressure without cranking. Once you have air-free fuel right to the injectors, she will soon start.
Still having trouble getting this engine to run. Fuel supply now seems to be air free, the engine now fires but not well enough to keep running. The valves seem to be ok so I did a compression test. I only had a car rubber push in one. The lowest reading on one of the cylinders was 150psi but it was blowing my hand up with it. Engine doesn't seem any closer to starting by using aerosol, in fact, when almost running, it was blowing large amounts of black smoke. I have attached a video of it almost running, this attempt was the closest I got (out of many, many attempts!)...EDIT..sorry, a MP4 video won't download.
Can you put up a YouTube video of your start attempts, set it to public viewing, and link to it here? The black smoke indicates an adequate amount of fuel is reaching the combustion chambers and it's burning. White smoke indicates incomplete combustion and possible low compression. A diesel needs around 325psi to have adequate compression to start - even though Cat never state any compression pressure figure. Does the tractor have a decompression lever? - and if so, is it adjusted so it's not holding valves open when in the run position? Did you re-check all valve clearances, and set them a little on the loose side? (a couple of thou extra clearance won't hurt anything, you re-adjust them to proper clearances after the engine has warmed up). You can do a compression leak-down test, which will give you better pointers as to where you may be losing compression - but you need a dual gauge compression tester and adaptors to fit in the injector orifice in the precombustion chamber.
This engine has glow plugs right? Are you powering them before trying to start? Took some digging but found this:
Some engines need lots of glow plug time. The Kubota in my skid steer needs glow plugs for about 10 seconds even when it's a hot summer day approaching 30C.
Another two areas that need to be checked; 1. Is the intake piping all clear and unrestricted? Is the air cleaner free of obstructions? 2. Fuel injection timing may be off. If this is the case, then you may need to reset it. It may be off due to wear, slippage in the fuel pump drive coupling, or someone before you may have been fiddling with it. Checking fuel injection timing becomes a bit more complex and involved, and you may need some special tooling. The simplest and most basic check is a spill test, but there are also injection pump lift heights that may need adjustment, and this requires a dial indicator and Cat tooling.
Thanks OzDozer for the advice, I am looking into somehow posting video. Re the valves, there is no decompression lever and all the valves are quite loose (about 2mm movement) when in the released position. I have just ordered a 'leak down test' kit, will have to wait a week+ for that to arrive.
The air intake chamber cover is off so I was able to spray aerosol directly into each individual cylinder to see if any were not responding. Glad you mention the fuel injection because something doesn't seem quite right, notable yesterday was a pool of diesel fuel accumulated in the inlet chamber (photo attached, hopefully!). Also the engine is closest to running by working the throttle backward and forward while cranking, very little firing otherwise! Maybe I should take the injectors out and test individually, it is almost like fuel is running straight thru one of them, not sure if that is possible?
Thankyou KSHANSON Thankyou kshansen for the data. The engine does have glow plugs which I used. Interestingly, the engine was much closer to running on the hotter days with an ambient temp of around 32C. Your starting chart surprisingly says no glow time necessary!
No glow plug time is based on a fresh engine in optimum condition with optimum cranking speed. It doesn't hurt to use glow plugs even if they aren't technically supposed to be required. If the engine is warm from running then you shouldn't need glow plugs.
O.K. If you have raw diesel appearing in the intake manifold, either the injection timing is WAY out, or fuel is being pumped back into the intake via leaking inlet valves. Did you grind the valves and seats when the head was off? One of these engines in satisfactory condition should start in seconds without glowplugs in our Summer weather. You would normally only use glowplugs when the temperature got down to less than 5 or 6 degs C.
No, I didn't grind the valves. On reflection, it was probably a mistake but at the time I had the mindset; "this engine was running as is, so don't adjust anything".......so, I removed each valve one at a time, wire brushed the rust, and oiled them up. Some had rusted tight due to the water damage. I guess the 'leak down' test will provide the answer. Today I was going to dis-assemble the injectors only to find they do not dis-assemble, although the nozzle does screw off the inj housing. The manual says these should be done up only finger tight but I found they leak at this point if not tight and fuel had actually been dripping from this joint via gravity. (I had added another 40 litres of fuel to the tank, so this may have exemplified it?).
O.K. That answers a few questions. Yes, it is a serious mistake to remove and replace a head without doing the valves - even if it is an el-cheapo repair. You're definitely going to find leaking valves, and the head will have to come off again. Valves and valve seats are the items that really cop a hammering in diesels. They have to hold high compression (16:1 in most Cats) and they have to deal with high temperature gases. A valve grind wouldn't cost a great deal, once you find the right person. Even better, install all new valves, they cost very little in the scheme of things, and the performance increase is substantial. I just got all new valves for my 3204, 4 cyl Cat engine and EPSS provided 8 quality aftermarket (U.S. made) valves for around AU$200. New valve springs (also U.S. made aftermarket) were AU$88 from Nason. I had new bronze valve guide inserts installed, the head machined flat, the seats ground, and the new valves and valve springs installed, all for $550. It's not a huge cost, and the fuel savings in better engine performance pay for it. Re the injectors - yes, they're called "capsule" injectors and the nozzles are only screwed up hand tight. The nozzles must be checked for proper spray pattern. The proper spray pattern is an evenly-spread fine mist. If they dribble, squirt, or spray to one side, they need replacing. The proper way to test them is in an injector testing machine. But if you can't find someone with an injector tester, you can unscrew an injector pipe and turn it around so it's facing into the open air, connect up the injector, crank the engine, and watch the spray pattern carefully. You can even place a piece of cardboard in front of the injector and look at the spray pattern on the cardboard. DON'T place your hand or fingers anywhere near the fuel coming out of the injector, it sprays at around 2,500 psi, and it will inject diesel into your bloodstream, and make you extremely sick. New injector nozzles are available aftermarket and aren't overly expensive, either. New injector nozzles ensure a proper fuel atomisation and fuel burn, and injectors with a bad spray pattern can burn holes in pistons, even wash oil off the cylinder wall, and make the piston seize in the cylinder bore.
One question, I looked quick but did not see the answer. Have you ever seen this engine run? Or did you acquire it as a none running machine?
I acquired it as a non running engine. They told me it had been running but was overheating last time it ran, which was 8-10 years ago. When I pulled the head off it, no. 1 & 3 pistons had rusted to the cylinder liner, the other 2 looked in good condition. The exhaust and inlet pipes had not been covered. I was hoping to get it running enough to see what the condition the rest of the machine was like before putting any great money into it. All indications are that it will still be a good machine when running, it is only intended for odd jobs around the farm! Yesterday's tests showed the 4 injectors to be ok and the 2 good cylinders achieving around 240psi, the other 2 damaged ones, around 160-180psi.(possibly still with rings that are rusted closed, the liners also are pitted but I was able to hone them).
That level of compression is inadequate for a diesel, and especially a Cat diesel engine, to start and run properly. Did you not pull the pistons? You only honed the bore above the pistons?? You need to pull the pistons, check the ring condition and ring gaps - and with pitted bores, it sounds like you need to replace the liners.
Until you know the rings are free and cylinders in good condition along with good sealing valves worrying about injectors is to me a major waste of time. Just looking at the picture in post #1 I would want to know if that, I believe it's the intake valve, was removed from head and condition of valve face was found to be near perfect. If I was doing the job at the very least while head was off I would have removed all valves and lapped them a bit to know there was even a chance they would seal. And while the head was off I'd have, at the very least, pulled any pistons out of any cylinders that did not look 100% perfect. My opinion is you are approaching this job from the completely wrong direction almost like worrying about having matching hub caps on a car before knowing if the brakes work!
Yes, it's looking like I'm going to have to do a basic engine rebuild now. Are the pistons removeable with the engine in position? Does anyone know if valves, piston& rings, liners are all still available for this engine? One thing that would worry me would be replacing the liners ..... it is something I have never done before.
The engine needs to be raised about 50mm at the front by removing the front engine cross member bolts, this allows the bolts at the rear of the block that hold the plate to the bottom of the block to be removed. The plate on the bottom of the block runs the full length of the block above the sump (oil pan), and both the plate and the sump have to come off to get at all the big ends. The pistons and conrods are then pulled out through the top of the engine. Valves, pistons, rings and liners come in an "engine kit". Talk to Glen at EPSS in Toowoomba, he will be able to supply IPD (U.S. made) engine kits at a very reasonable price, probably around AU$2000. Earthmoving Parts & Service Solutions Your earthmoving parts & service solution. Your experts in Procurement, Part Sales & Supply, Component Reconditioning Services, Machinery Sales & Disposal and International Exports. Proudly Australian owned, servicing businesses locally and International. www.epss.com.au You can buy Chinese-made D330 components and kits off eBay or from other sellers, but the Chinese stuff is highly variable quality, and you will be disappointed if you buy Chinese parts. The liners come out easily, they just need to be pulled out with a bit of pressure and you need to make up a liner pulling tool. You need a long piece of high tensile all-thread, or a long puller bolt, plus a H-shaped puller bar - like this one ... Large Gear and Pulley Puller Tool OTC522 | eBay
... www.ebay.com.au The puller bolt must be at least 100mm longer than the liner. This is to allow clearance at the top of the block to allow upwards movement of the liner, and to allow the fitment of a puller plate on the bottom. The puller plate has to be machined up out of piece of heavy plate (16mm minimum) with a central hole for the threaded rod or bolt, and machined on the outer edges so it is slightly smaller than the diameter of the liner - and a step has to be machined into the plate, that locates it inside the liner. You then place some pieces of steel on the top of the block to "jack up" the H-bar (big nuts will do, but small pieces of plate are better) - place the H-bar on the top of the engine block across the liner, drop the puller bolt or threaded rod down the centre of the liner, and attach the puller plate at the bottom with a nut screwed to the puller bolt or threaded rod. Wind up the puller bolt or threaded rod and the liner will pop up steadily. It's held at the bottom by two big o-rings, and a bit of corrosion - and at the top it fits into a machined recess in the block. Replacement of the liner involves cleaning up the area thoroughly at the bottom where the o-rings seal. This area must be sanded back to clean metal. The recess in the top of the block must also be thoroughly cleaned and checked for damage. You then install the o-rings and lube them with soap to aid installation, and slip the liner into position and drive it home with a nylon-faced hammer. The critical part of liner installation is liner protrusion. This is the amount the liner sticks up above the block. It's usually about .005" to .006". You need to bolt the H-bar across the top of the liner and place pressure on the liner to ensure its fully seated, before you measure the protrusion with an accurate pair of vernier calipers. If the protrusion is not correct, then the height can be adjusted with copper shims under the liner flange. Correct protrusion is critical, if you re-install the head with liner protrusion out of spec, your head gasket will blow shortly after you start working the engine. None of this is rocket science, but it will take a bit of effort, a fair amount of your time, a bit of money, and a lot of care and regular checking of specs. A service manual is going to be a necessary purchase, but they're not expensive in the overall scheme of things.
Thankyou OzDozer for the detailed explanation. I should be able to make up the sleeve puller ok. Do the liners need to be cooled before installing? It appears the parts are available; Tilleys Qld have quoted; $1400 for the piston, rings & liner and a total of $3900 with other parts/ gaskets, valves etc. They have also quoted for valve 'seats', not sure exactly what that component refers to? (Have been getting no response from Glen @ EPSS). My main concern is whether the head is in good enough condition to buy new parts for it. Not many places around here I can approach for head reconditioning. Perhaps purchasing a re-conditioned one is the most viable option.
1553, the liners don't need to be cooled before insertion. They're just a snug fit and are held in place by the properly-tightened cylinder head. The "seats" are properly termed "valve seat inserts". They're a tight interference fit in a recess in the head. They would only need replacing if the seats were extremely badly worn, and a new seat couldn't be cut to meet Cat specifications. Re Glen at EPSS - I've found most business people here are away on holidays until early January. Did Tillys state the country of origin, or brand of their parts? And whether they're guaranteed? They could be Chinese. The head is usually suitable for reconditioning if it's not cracked. Crack testing is vital before you go too far, there are two main tests, a Magnaflux test, and a pressure test.
Curious if dye penetrant could be or has been used to check for a cracked head? Seems like it should work if done properly. Clean the head thoroughly, spray with penetrant, wait a bit and spray with cleaner and then spray with developer. They even have nuclear grade dye pentrant test kits.
I made a leak down tester yesterday which confirms the head to be in poor condition. Upon filling the radiator to the top, water started to run out around the top of the combustion chamber on no.2 cylinder (under no pressure). I am unfamiliar with combustion chambers but I assume there must be an O ring sealing it from the coolant system. No.1 cylinder has a badly leaking inlet valve which was already obvious. No.3 cylinder blew quite a volume of water out the top of the radiator but could hear no valve leak. No.4 cylinder seemed ok and leaked the air pressure out much slower than the others. Magnaflux test might be the next step. I have received a quote for $4100 for a new loaded head. It is made in Italy and comes with a 6 month warranty. I will give this option some serious thought but with the piston kit makes a total of around $7000. Am I correct in saying the bottom end of the D330 engine is the same as the D330T engine and, if so, does that mean a piston kit from a 3304 engine would suit my engine?
My D330 in my 922 loader the pre combustion chambers started leaking into the cylinder due to corrosion where they seat onto the head (I doubt any of this old gear ever saw any corrosion inhibitor coolant in their lives. The pre cups sit on a thick steel spacer of varying thickness to get the location of the glow plugs correct. I had pulled the engine to replace the ring gear and when it got reinstalled after being dry for a week, water leaked out of the head. I replaced the head with a CGR one, with genuine valves and valve springs. D330 come in two flavours. The 4.5X5.5 ones and the later totally different 4.75X6 ones.
Thank you for the information RC. I am interested where you got your new head from, not sure what CGR stands for (is it a change-over head?).
I got mine from Catamac, but they no longer deal in engine parts. CGR is the Italian company that makes that sort of stuff.
CGR-Ghinassi is the full name of the company making the aftermarket Cat parts and components. They're good quality. You can't buy direct off them, you have to find a dealer here in Australia selling their parts and components. High precision spare parts for industrial earthmoving machines | CGR Ghinassi CGR Ghinassi parts are perfectly interchangeable with the genuine equivalents and provide the highest guarantees of strength and durability ghinassi.com AS RC says, you need to look at your precombustion chambers for coolant/combustion leaks. They're bad for corroding right through when the cooling system becomes degraded. They're not expensive to replace, but you need a (reasonably cheap) splined tool (5F8353) for getting the precombustion chambers out, and Cat supply a chart detailing how you use the correct thickness of steel washers (Cat call them "gaskets") on the precombustion chamber to end up with the glow plug in the correct position. 5F8353 – Wrench Tool Pc | DCT Earth Moving Machinery Parts and Components donclark.com.au There are two different Cat 4 cyl engines in the 955's and D4's - the earlier 4.5" bore D330, and the later, totally redesigned 4.75" bore D330C (later renamed the 3304). So, D330C/3304 parts won't fit a D330 engine. Watch out for sellers who list "D330", when they actually mean D330C. The earlier 4.5" bore D330 engine is also referred to as the D330A or D330B. Turbocharged engines are marked with a "T" suffix, and turbocharged engines have piston-cooling jets that squirt oil onto the underside of the pistons from the main bearings region, to cool the underside of the pistons. Turbocharged engines develop a lot more heat in the combustion chamber. Turbocharged engines also run lower compression ratios, and it's extremely rare to find pistons interchangeable between turbo engines and naturally aspirated engines, because of the requirement for the lower compression ratio in the turbo engines. You need to take your head to a cylinder head reconditioner who can handle "industrial heads" (many automotive reconditioners can't handle industrial heads, they're too big for them), and ask the head reconditioner to do the crack test and pressure test before you lash out on a new cylinder head. You would also be well advised to ask the reconditioner for a head reconditioning quote. I reconditioned the head on my 3204 (4.5" bore engine) for a bit over $1500, but I made the initial mistake of selecting a head reconditioner who was too used to dealing with mining companies and they wanted $2400 to recondition my head, which is the same price as a new aftermarket head. They did a Robowash on the head, installed new stainless core plugs, did the crack test and pressure test before I stopped them from buying all new Cat parts such as valves and springs (as well as seats, which weren't needed!), then adding 20% to the Cat parts prices and ripping me off to the max!! They charged me for an acid bath, which is not what a Robowash clean is - and when I stopped them, they still charged me $700 for the small amount of work they did! - which I did not approve, anyway! I ended up buying new IPD valves from EPSS (a bit over $200), new valve springs from Nason (a bit under $90) - and then I found a bloke with a small head shop who installed new K-line bronze valve guide inserts, ground the seats, faced (machined) the head surface, and installed the valves and springs - all for $550. The D330 has replaceable valve guide inserts, so you will need to factor these into the repair cost, too. Often, a new, complete cylinder head is the same or less cost than a major head overhaul. Cat do make the "Classic" line of parts for older engines, it's worth asking your Cat dealer on their pricing for one of these, sometimes they can be competitive. https://parts.cat.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/en/westrac/2S-9004 DO NOT purchase the aftermarket heads from eBay that are made in India, they are junk.
This business will more than likely provide you with a reasonable price for an aftermarket head. Cutting Edges | Earthmoving, Mining and Construction Machinery Parts With over 40,000 proprietary and stocked products you can source all your mobile (earthmoving) and fixed plant (material processing) products in one place. www.cuttingedges.com Don't forget to try and contact Glen again at EPSS as well, for a head quote.
Bit of an update for those interested;-My new liners and pistons are now in and the bottom end sealed up again. Was quite a learning experience removing and installing the new liners but not overly challenging. Luckily I decided to pull the oil intake filter apart only to find it completely blocked (I guess there must have been still a small amount getting thru). I took the cylinder head to a specialist, they took one look at it and told me to, "throw it in the bin". At great expense, I have opted for the Italian CGR loaded head which I hope will arrive this week. I looked at several options, they all seemed to work out to around the $4000 mark. None of my old head components were re-usable. Looking forward to hearing how the engine sounds, hopefully I'll get a few good years out of it now. Next job is a full flush of the radiator. Thanks to everyone who provided advice.
Best to spend some more on quality parts and services and do it right. Then you won't have to do it over.
It's important to recondition and clean every part of the oiling system when doing an engine rebuild - so many people forget to do this. I've seen a very expensive newly reconditioned D9R engine turn to scrap within 5 minutes of being installed and cranked up - because the reconditioners failed to clean out all the oil galleries thoroughly, and there was swarf left in one gallery. All the bearings chewed out with the swarf, and the engine had to be pulled out and reconditioned again, a very expensive exercise and a hard-learnt lesson for some people.
There is always something to go wrong, especially when couriers are involved. Long story short, Tilley's Qld won't send the goods with any insurance (not risking $4000). So, I am thinking of getting this head which is a CJR brand. Can't find any information or country of build for it. I have attached a photo of said item. Does anyone know anything of this brand. Should the machine marks be showing, as seen in picture?
I've seen those machining marks before. I don't know if they make the gasket seal better or there's another reason for it. I think most important is that it's perfectly flat. Initial impression looks like a good casting except for seeing some rust or something on a couple outer edges.
Never heard of CJR brand before - it's not CGR brand, is it? CGR Ghinassi is Italian, it's part of the bigger GB Ricambi Group, they make good stuff. If it is actually CJR brand, one would have to presume it's a Chinese "knock off" trying to copy CGR Ghinassi. High precision spare parts for industrial earthmoving machines | CGR Ghinassi CGR Ghinassi parts are perfectly interchangeable with the genuine equivalents and provide the highest guarantees of strength and durability ghinassi.com If it's CGR Ghinassi, just clean up the rust marks with Scotchbrite, and bolt it right up, you'll be good to go. If it is Chinese, all you can do is measure and re-measure all the important measurements, such as flatness across the machined surface, accuracy of dimensions of the valve guides - and look for casting imperfections, that show poor QC. Most of the Chinese cylinder heads are O.K., but you still need to ensure you didn't get a Friday afternoon special, knocked up by the cleaning crew on their coffee break. The machining lines are not critical, unless they're so deep you can feel the cutting tool marks with a fingernail. The head surface must be smooth.
Actually they are not flat. They are usually set up so the cutter is on a slight angle, so the cutter only cuts on the leading edge, saving machining time as it does not have to traverse the job the full length of job length + cutter length.
I was meaning the overall area was perfectly flat. Obviously if the marks are there it wouldn't be perfectly flat between the marks. That's why I was wondering if there's a reason for it like better gasket sealing.
1553 , you can easily insure goods in transit yourself, all you need to do is contact an insurance broker and tell them you want to insure goods being sent to you. The broker will find an insurance company who specialises in that type of insurance to give you a quote. A mate and I sold a good used Cat 3204 engine to a bloke in Northern NSW some years ago. He paid $7000 for the engine and wanted it insured in transit. I contacted a local broker and we organised the insurance in transit, it wasn't a major cost.