360 heads on a LA 318 vs Magnum heads on a LA 318
In a sense, yes. However, most out there are cracked and the engines are running fine. I'm not saying cracks in the head are fine, but it doesn't seem to effect anything.
Knowing and seeing them doesn't instill confidence though. Imagine being in the wrecking yard ,pulling some heads..inspecting them and saying to yourself..." I see cracks...im definitely spending the $170 bucks for'em now"
Most of the exhaust seats are hammered too. Finding any that are runnable 'as is' IS about impossible.
They were the ticket for a decade or so. It used to be you could find them less cracked and with fewer miles... but now they start to fall into common ground 'money wise' to make usable.
The seals fail, guides worn out... they dump oil through the intake guides and the plenum gasket when it goes multiple times in a magnums life unless you get the mahl steel gasket set ,like I did , or the Hughes plate. The chambers look like a coral reef of burnt oil peaks n crust on everything.
The death of EQ and RHS also killed the magnum craze. Trickflow,promax and even the cheap pos speed master friday deals solidifies the LA as the only choice.
The speed mast mags are good, if you know what to do with them... but no one is investing to find out other than me.. and cost wise...its 740 for set outside of the friday deal. ..then valve job, valves, locks, retainers, springs, port work like you would do to an RHS head and chamber work. They flat out work great after that..but Its a hard sell being a Chicon head that isnt a rhs or eq. Rhs have the dual exh pattern, extra ribbing, solid flat ends, thicker intake floors They 'rhs' weigh a lot more than a stock head. There's a few differnces.. just the finish of the chamber is so much nicer. You don't have to mess with it.
Takeaway is if they sold one without a valve job...then you could do one that's not set so low into the chamber....it'd be more like an rhs then...and just use the +.250 11/32 valves and have room for spring and rocker stud it accordingly for geometry. Done. No need to bring to 66 and mill it back to 60-62cc
