Replace blown GT40 advice.

Hello all,

I have a bit of a dilemma. My GT40 (2001 Super air) had a cracked block when I bought it. The boat has been in the shop since May. My heads and intake checked out ok so i only needed a short block, however, a long block was all that was available. I had planned to replace the standard heads on the long block with the GT40 heads from the old engine.

The mechanic is happy enough to do so but I 've just had a fairly lengthy chat with him and he says that if it was his boat he'd put the new long block in complete and leave the old GT40 heads off. He reckons that the power difference would be negligable considering the heads are older (500ish hrs and have had milkshake oil aroung them) and the GT40 fuel injection system will be going back on. He said that the old heads would have wear on the valves etc and he doesn't see the sense in it. He says it's up to me though! I'm confused.

What do you guys reckon?? Advice please!

D.

How long/how much for the valve job? I'm scared that this boat is not going to be back on the water this season at this rate!

Getting depressed...

D.

i guess thats not too bad. are replacement parts likely to be generic between various heads or will i be waiting for stuff to be ordered specifically for a GT40 head - remember i'm in ireland and all these 351 ford parts are scarce at best.

forgive my ignorance!

D.

I dont think Id be too excited about doing a head replacement in a v-drive if it could be easily avoided.

Shops that service heads around here have all the stuff they need right on the shelves- its pretty generic stuff. I have no idea if the case is the same in Ireland or not... but Id be surprised if the seals, etc were considered to be super special. Id be searching out a competent shop ASAP. I would not look to your current mechanic for a recommendation!

Darren, take a look at these guys over here,you could pop over and pick a lump up.
+1 with Tim I doubt your head are shot just a mess from poor winterising a picture would help..?

Look at part1 in the ford section 351w as you can see they build too but it is race season but with all this rain they may have time on there hands give them a call

Oh and give the site some time to load its a bit slow on my PC.

Good luck Roger.

thanks for the link. Those guys didn't come up in my weeks of searching! However, the long block is bought already. The heads are ok, just had them pressure tested to make sure they were not cracked.

I'll see about the heads having the valve job. If it only takes a few days then i'll go for that. Failing that i'll drop in the standard for the time being and see about the swap over the off season. The hatch is the full beam of the boat when you take all the dividers and ballast tanks out and access is not as bad as you'd think. I do agree about doing, and paying for, something once and all that but i'm dying to get in the water asap.