5.3 HEAD REPAIR

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:05]Remember that spot that was cracked?

[00:00:07]It wasn't very long.

[00:00:14]Okay, this is the second head. I'm going to take four off of that like I did the other one.

[00:00:18]>> Okay, second head.

[00:00:21]>> Let's cover the port.

[00:00:24]Hey, happy Saturday. How are we doing today? Let's see what I'm working on.

[00:00:28]Hey, I'm working on a pair of 2009 5.3 Chevrolet heads.

[00:00:33]They're in here for a pressure test, vacuum test, and a surface.

[00:00:40]If you have this head with this little battery insignia on it, watch out. These heads will bust down here around the head bolt hole.

[00:00:50]Here's a cutaway view of that area. You can see that that area is very thin and when that head bolt gets clamped down, it causes the head to bust. Okay, I scraped it all off. Look at this head, it really tossed the gasket right here.

[00:01:03]See if it leaks.

[00:01:05]Okay, to pressure test it, I got to plug this.

[00:01:08]And that's not drilled. Sometimes these are drilled.

[00:01:11]But this one only has one.

[00:01:14]So, I'm going to use a crack repair pin.

[00:01:17]Put it in just like that. It's self-tapping.

[00:01:19]Okay, here we go. At least this is a 243 and not a not a 706 or 862. Those are really prone to crack. Okay, this side looks good.

[00:01:30]So, hey, I don't know if you notice there's bubbles here. I got 50 lbs of air into this thing and it flat the rubber just can't hold it back.

[00:01:37]Last side.

[00:01:40]Head can crack anywhere.

[00:01:42]Check down them ports real good.

[00:01:46]Let's get on this side now. Let's check the spot that's going to leak maybe.

[00:01:51]Okay.

[00:01:52]Check them head bolts really good. Let me check the whole head pretty good.

[00:01:59]It it good. Sometimes it'll leak just like a sponge. Looks good.

[00:02:03]Here's the fun part. Watch your body parts.

[00:02:06]Always sometimes flipping this thing.

[00:02:08]And if you got your arm tied up in there somewhere, get enough momentum to wipe you out.

[00:02:13]Okay, this one's good.

[00:02:17]Lots of air in there.

[00:02:19]Hey, second head. Need a plug.

[00:02:21]There you go. Okay, this head is the one that took the sensor, so I got to put That'll work.

[00:02:27]Okay, second head.

[00:02:42]Okay, here we are at the dreaded shop.

[00:02:52]It's good. Maybe the intake.

[00:02:55]Give it that death-defying roll.

[00:03:07]Laying out of my secret sauce here.

[00:03:12]All right, looks good.

[00:03:15]Let me get out of here. Okay, no leaks.

[00:03:17]Now I got a couple bolts to get out of them.

[00:03:19]There's one here and another one down here.

[00:03:25]I'm going to start out on this one, see if I can get it out with some vise grips.

[00:03:29]First thing I'm going to do is spray it.

[00:03:33]Now I'm going to beat it like it owes me money.

[00:03:46]Nice.

[00:04:02]>> I'm going to oil that. You don't want to pull the threads. The aluminum will pull out of there.

[00:04:07]So, don't just reef it out. You won't have any threads. You'll have to use a coil.

[00:04:28]Let go.

[00:04:29]There we go.

[00:04:33]Okay, now for this one. This broke off below the surface quite a ways. I ground on it just a bit with a die grinder so I can get a good weld on it.

[00:04:42]So, the first thing I'm going to do is weld a washer onto it.

[00:05:04]Well, that weld is so crappy.

[00:05:07]Okay, I'm going to put a big nut on there.

[00:06:00]>> You Huh.

[00:06:04]I didn't get a bond.

[00:06:06]Yeah, when I welded that washer, I don't know, the welder wasn't welding very good. Let me try it again.

[00:06:10]I just went to edit the clip, I got it out, and I didn't push record.

[00:06:15]It was like the same first go around, except there was less cussing and more success.

[00:06:19]Uh let me vacuum test them now.

[00:06:21]My vacuum tester, I just put it over the port and pull the trigger. If it pulls vacuum, the valve's sealing.

[00:06:28]So, I just cover the port and it's good. I checked them all, so now let me surface them.

[00:06:34]What you doing, bear?

[00:06:36]You need a pat? I can't pet you, my hands are dirty. Let me surface these heads. Go lay down, the chips are going to fly.

[00:06:42]No, I can't pet you. Sorry, buddy.

[00:06:45]I had to go pet him then wash my hands.

[00:06:47]There you go, you need a pat, didn't you?

[00:06:49]Sure with your wrinkled face.

[00:06:52]Okay, go on. Go lay down. Get. Get. Go on.

[00:06:55]Go lay down your bed.

[00:06:57]Go do something else.

[00:07:03]I don't like that we're Look at that spot that was cut.

[00:07:12]It wasn't very long.

[00:07:17]Coming back at it.

[00:07:19]Pretty surprising, really.

[00:07:25]I slowed the feed down.

[00:07:28]Reverse it.

[00:07:35]Take another half.

[00:07:39]I put some WD-40 on it.

[00:07:44]Let's see. here won't hurt anything.

[00:07:47]The gasket I'll feel that.

[00:07:49]We got to worry about the compression firing.

[00:07:53]Here we go. We're coming up on that cylinder.

[00:08:02]Looks pretty good.

[00:08:06]You know what? It's a little bit specially. I'm going to take another half off this thing.

[00:08:10]>> So I'll speed it back up.

[00:08:27]>> Here we are on the backside. This has got some little fuzziness around the edge. That won't hurt anything.

[00:08:34]See where it's barely throwing any chips.

[00:08:42]And now we're up to that spot.

[00:08:47]Yeah, a tiny bit of haze in there, but that's going to be inside the fire ring.

[00:08:51]I'm going to call this done.

[00:08:56]>> There you go.

[00:08:57]Just cleared the end.

[00:09:12]All right. Let me get it out. I'll get the other one in.

[00:09:15]So here I got our old gasket. You could see that's all inside.

[00:09:20]Lot of glare from my phone there. But yeah, that's inside. It won't hurt anything.

[00:09:25]>> Okay, that's it for the second head. I'm going to take four off of that like I did the other one. So that's just 2,000.

[00:09:32]Okay, now I'm coming back at a thousand and a half. I'm still on rapid feed here. I'll do half on the way back.

[00:09:45]There you go.

[00:10:03]There you go. Couple of ugly five three heads.

[00:10:07]All right, that'll do it for this one.

[00:10:08]Thanks for coming along on this Saturday, you guys. Hey, you guys come back and see me again, all right? Be nice to each other.

[00:10:14]Bye.