WTB: 144 I6 Head and manifold

[Pete]

On my newly (ebay) purchased 62 4door comet, I found it to be rather noisy. I concluded that the exhaust manifold gasket was bad, but while replacing I noticed that the front tab on the head that the bolt goes into has been broke, so the manifold wasnt bolted on all the way, and in turn it has warped the manifold.

Im looking for a 144 manifold and head, I hear you can swap to a bigger head for more power, but honestly im not interested unless it will make it cheaper.

Thanks for any help you can offer me.

[Hillbilly Comet Man]

Pete,I am running a 170 head on my 144 but am told if you run a 200 or 250 head you must shave it to keep the Compression ratio the same.Shipping would probably pretty high on a head,so I would try to find one locally.I would try to stick to a 144 or 170 60-64 head.If you can't find one locally I could send you one reasonable.I know I have a 170 head and I believe a couple of 144s.Which ever route you go I would reccomend vatting them and a valve job.Later,Heath

[lavron]

Exhaust manifolds are notorious for cracking and breaking, that is the main reason I changed over to a header and then the rest is history.

See Ya,
Mike

[Pete]

sadly I have a 5.0 with tranny and wiring harness ready to put in something, but I really want t stick with the 6

Im liking the idea of the bigger head, Im going to have to hunt around for one.

the only conversion machine work needed is just planing it down to keep compresion up? do the 200 heads have the intake attached?

[cometcountry1974]

Yes, the 200 has the intake cast into the head. Where are you located? I think I still have an extra 200 head sitting in the shed.

[Pete]

im about 2 1/2 hours north of you where IA, IL and MO all meet. I am coming right through Troy later this week on my way to STL. Perhaps we could work something out if you have one handy.

[Pete]

another question is what kind of cost investment would rebuilding this head be, and having it planed.? anybody recently do one and have an average figure?

[cometcountry1974]

I am not sure of the cost for rebuild. I will try to check today to make sure that I have one, if I do it will be very reasonable.

[cometcountry1974]

Sorry, must of gotten rid of it. Have about everything else. Good luck. If you can't find what you are looking for I do know of a local salvage yard that had two complete 170's still in the cars, I am sure they will sell a head off one. No idea what they would want for them though. They also are only open on the weekends.

[Pete]

I do have a spare 302/c4 at my disposal. One thing im worried about is if i replace the cylinder head and the rest of the motor is worthless, why have a 500$ head on a worthless motor.

whats involved in a v8 swap?

[lavron]

If you could pick up one of the 170s it would drop right in.

See Ya,
Mike

[Hillbilly Comet Man]

I had my 170 head vatted,planed and valve job and a couple helicoils put in for$135.00.I did not have the hardened valve seats put in.Later,Heath

[Pete]

finding one in my area is gonna be the hard part

[Hillbilly Comet Man]

Pete ,I did find one on ebay.The price seems a little steep even with the reserve not being met.Its for a 144
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford-6-C ... enameZWDVW

[Pete]

That looks like a nice one, but shipping would be way up there, and the price like you said is high.

I did some JB weld engineering to the head I have, and to the manifold. Its drying right now, ive fixed a crackin a John Deere backho engine block and fixed a hole in a block of a 180hp motorcycle aluminum motor with jbweld, so hopefully it will work