Roadrunner

[TonyB]

i bought a 69 road runner with the 383 apart and no heads, a NOS set of 906 heads came with it in the boxes. Has anyone ran them without hardened seats? i do not intend to race it and it will just be a cruiser ran on Non oxygenated fuel. just wondering if it is safe to do so? My other option will be to buy aftermarket aluminum and sell the 906 heads.

 

[496 polara]

Depends on whether you want performance or not. You can always use a lead additive in the gas.

 

[Dave6T4]

The '68 440 in my 1967 R/T has "906" heads on it. In 30 years of driving, the R/T has accumulated almost 80,000 miles, most of it cruising, but with the occasional blast down the 1/4 mile. The engine still runs fine. I would use the heads you have, if the majority of use is car shows and cruising.

 

[493 Mike]

If the heads are bare, I would probably sell them for a restoration. Take that money and buy a nice set of aluminum heads and matching valve train and intake manifold.
Mike

 

[TonyB]

If the heads are bare, I would probably sell them for a restoration. Take that money and buy a nice set of aluminum heads and matching valve train and intake manifold.
Mike

If i sold them what do you think they are worth?

 

[493 Mike]

If i sold them what do you think they are worth?

Well, if they are new OEM castings, there should be some demand for them but, I'm not up on restoration pricing. See if you can find any new heads online?
Mike

 

[HawkRod]

Lead in fuel helps protect non-hardened seats. Prolonged, heavy loads on the engine, like what you do when you tow, will sink the seats if you run unleaded gasoline.

If you were building a vehicle to tow heavy loads with, or you were looking to get 50,000 miles plus out of it, then my answer is yes, make sure you get heads with hardened valve seats. Having said that, most of us baby our cars and they don't rack up a lot of miles. An occasional blast down the quarter mile won't significantly hurt your seats, and they will likely last at least 20-30 thousand miles.

Bottom line is I believe for your application you car will run fine without hardened valve seats.

 

[gkent]

If i sold them what do you think they are worth?

Couple hundred bucks tops. "NOS" ... no big deal.

 

[gkent]

Bottom line is I believe for your application you car will run fine without hardened valve seats.

I tend to agree.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

I’ve gotten 50k+ miles on heads without hardened seats….run what you have

 

[DanielSlocum]

Me thinks they are worth a lot more than that. Just putting guides in an old set would likely set you back at least that much. Thats on top of cleaning and crack checking first.

 

[gkent]

Whatever !!

 

[TonyB]

These are still in the box, never been used.

 

[eldubb440]

Couple hundred bucks tops. "NOS" ... no big deal.

and shipping kills the deal

 

[T2R9]

I just sold a set of fresh 68 906 heads for $600 and the buyer paid $150 for the shipping. They were on marketplace for about two months. So there is a market out there if your patient.

 

[eldubb440]

what's the going rate to freshen up a set of iron heads? (no, mine are done, just curious )

 

[T2R9]

$275 is what I paid for these.

 

[RemCharger]

what's the going rate to freshen up a set of iron heads? (no, mine are done, just curious )

I'll start a parts list. Assuming everything.
Springs
Retainers
Keepers
Valves
Seals
Guides
Seats
Shims

That would keep your wallet busy for a while. Then a small loan for the labor.

 

[gkent]

Hot tank
Maybe magnaflux
Resurface

 

[Runcharger]

Your decision and money of course. If it was me, I'd advertise them for some good coin and flip a set of chinese stealths on there for maybe the same $$$.