I may be buying an N42 that is in need of a rebuild. The owner sent some pics along with an explanation of what went wrong before he replaced it. Maybe you guys could give me some advice. I was a little concerned by looking at the photos since it looks like the casting is deformed around the water passages. I'm no expert and have really never looked at the business side of a cylinder head, but I am sure many of you know your way around.

Here is the explanation I got from the seller :

ok here's the skinny on the head.

I picked up a 75 down in texas. upon returning the car was running

mediocare. thinking there was a timing issue i pull the valve cover and

front cover to make sure. no problems.

turns out that a senor lead was the culpate and everything was put back

together.

after running the car for a while i take it up the road for a test run.

while running the car, the pin that holds the cam gear to the camshaft

wiggled loose. the cam gear proceeded to move on the cam and bang ... big no

no. after pulling the head i found the problem and the result. 6 bent

exhaust valves. upon futher inspection i noticed that it still had the

orginal intake bronze valve seats. after removing one intake valve it was

clear that the head needed to be rebuilt. with no time or funds for such i

transplanted an 280zx block with an n-47 head into may car(it ran real

good;).

i have kept the head around because i was looking to do a turbo build but

have since aquired a p90a head and have settled the question of which head

to use.

the head is going to need all new valves as well as new intake valve seats.

i spoke with a machine shop who remembers those old heads and said i proubly

won't need to replace any of the exhaust seat because they are steel.

the rockers are setting on a shelf somewhere collecting dust. if you want i

can find them and include them. the cam is stock. unfortunitlly i have

lost the valves for the #1 cylinder and can't account for them.

pic #2

pic #3

last pic, #4

PASS unless it's free. there are heads out here that are good . looks like water jacket trouble for one thing. the rockers must be replaced in the same order they came off the cam or they will eat each other. if they are " on a shelf somewhare" that isnt going to happen. There was a posting recently for a free engine and trans. here on the club site.

Thanks for the reply beandip,

I think i'll pass on this one, I've seen a few other heads for sale and will be looking into them next.

While we are on the subject, how much does an assembled head weigh in at? I've been quoted between $25 and $35 for shipping from various parts of the country on cylinder heads, if I knew the weight maybe I could get an idea about shipping cost on my own from a given area without needing to wait on the seller.

Thanks,

Andrew