6.4 head options

gorace · May 6, 2016

So decided Im going to purchase oem heads....problem. I went in and bought 2 heads one was black and the other was natural finish. I came home and mic both heads, the black head mics 3.740, the natural finish one 3.726, so after driving around town and looking at 2 different heads from different dealers the best I could find was 3.733. Dealers are saying they think most are remans wtf. So I'm having them order another couple sets I can check, granted I'm still wondering if the cores they're using for remans aren't cracked. Anyone have experience with this finding used cores has proven to be a total waste and now new from the dealer heads? I wanted to install hardened seats and a set of springs too.

sideactiondiesel · May 7, 2016

Hahah been going on for years there is no such thing as new anymore lol. Check valve recession as well we have seen some real winners in this department.

78f100 · May 7, 2016

I ordered 4 sets one time to get 2 heads just slightly under spec... the book says minimum thickness is 3.74, you will hardly never find one within spec that's a reman. My parts guy says there is no difference in part #s for reman or new, they are all basically in the same piles you never know what you get.

gorace · May 7, 2016

Damn 4 sets I'm sure my parts guy will love that. Do you guys remember if there was any correlation with the head being black?

gorace · May 7, 2016

Have I said I love my 6.4 yet, I mean I like a challenge but I thought the dealer was the place to specially with what they charge for a head. Starting to feel like going aftermarket, since I'm installing hardened seats anyway? Any thoughts on that, I'm sure they have issues too.

gorace · May 7, 2016

And what about max force 7 heads.

gorace · May 7, 2016

Oh and have you seen any heads that have the typical cracks that Ford remaned anyway.

jus10keith · May 8, 2016

Navistar was machining "service" heads for the 6.4L up until they shut down the V-plant in Huntsville in 2014. They were sent to Cat-Reman and divvied up between whatever dealership ordered them. Also, as an FYI, they ran 6.0L until then too, just in a limited capacity.

gorace said:
And what about max force 7 heads.

If you're talking about the 2011 up CGI block 6.4L, NO. totally different intake side on the head and no glow plug holes either. The valley area of the block is completely different also. (It was actually referred to as a 6.5L to differentiate between models.) If you're asking about the 08-10 6.4L Nav engines, same head and same block as Ford 6.4L.

co04cobra · May 8, 2016

Airfish has these for sale.

http://powerstrokearmy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70055

If he's 100% confident in his machine shop on no cracks I think it's as good of a option as ford remans. JMO.

Several 6.0 guys are saying they've had good luck with UCF heads also. I would stay away from aftermarket heads.

ncollins64 · May 8, 2016

So can we not buy NEW heads anymore for the 6.4 like we can blocks?

weekendwarriorfsw32 · May 8, 2016

Nope, not from ford.

ncollins64 said:
So can we not buy NEW heads anymore for the 6.4 like we can blocks?

webb06 · May 8, 2016

So if the valves have been properly recessed and shortened with new seats and guides does the overall thickness matter?

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gorace · May 9, 2016

I thought about going with ucf heads, but they need good cores.

gorace · May 9, 2016

I'm pretty sure the black one I got from them is new but the other one is not. Black one measured 3.740. But yeah they're all listed as remans.

78f100 · May 9, 2016

ncollins64 said:
So can we not buy NEW heads anymore for the 6.4 like we can blocks?

The bare blocks maybe you can still get new, short blocks are almost always a reman also, they are spray welded and bored back to factory spec.

ncollins64 · May 9, 2016

78f100 said:
The bare blocks maybe you can still get new, short blocks are almost always a reman also, they are spray welded and bored back to factory spec.

Yea last time I talked to Morgan about this he can still get NEW bare blocks. Hope this is still the case.

gorace · May 10, 2016

hpfp

What about hpfp what's the way to go oem. I know about the front seal leaks but I thought that was happening more in cold climates, and something to do with the return pressure. Running a single.

Luke@MillerPerformance · May 16, 2016

Last set of 6.0 heads I got from Ford took 3 sets to get two good ones. Both ended up being bare metal, no paint.

One painted one it looked like the mill started jumping, half the head had 1/8th inch dips in it. 2 others were .006 warped and the guides were junk.

gorace · May 21, 2016

Yeah well I took both back and I'm going with a set of ucf heads, this is basically what the 6.4 situation has come too. Ford makes a shop manual that says not to resurface the heads but it's okay if they do it, and I'll also add one head was off by .0005 from one side to the other, and 2 were warped. Parts manager was not very happy either he said there was nothing wrong with the heads that's what they put on all the trucks that come in. Cooooool!

Luke@MillerPerformance · May 23, 2016

gorace said:
Yeah well I took both back and I'm going with a set of ucf heads, this is basically what the 6.4 situation has come too. Ford makes a shop manual that says not to resurface the heads but it's okay if they do it, and I'll also add one head was off by .0005 from one side to the other, and 2 were warped. Parts manager was not very happy either he said there was nothing wrong with the heads that's what they put on all the trucks that come in. Cooooool!

It's pretty sad what passes for acceptable and will work long enough to get it out of warranty. There have been plenty of trucks I take apart and I'm amazed it was running like that, but they do. There's a lot more give in valve train parts that are only moving at a max of 1600 rpm vs. a small block gasser that's got them moving at 4K.