From experience I will tell you that the aftermarket made in China heads are not as durable as the original. If you can keep your LC stock and cooled properly I imagine they would hold up just fine.
any after market 3b heads ? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter alberta mac
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
No Turbo then I guess?
Does anyone know if you can actually reuse a Cracked head at all? Steve at EBI says you can depending on how bad it is, and where.
Cracked heads can be repaired and cheaper than a new head depending on how bad it is cracked. The rural SC machine shop (cheap) I took my cracked 3B head to IOT repair had a flat charge of $75 to dissasemble and test for leaks cracks. If they couldn't repair it that was all you paid. They tried to repair a few cracks on my head and every time a new like developed. After a few tries that didn't work they made the call it was to damaged to repair and I only had to pay them the $75 for their effort.
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2020
- Threads
- 112
- Messages
- 1,503
- Location
- Brunei Darussalam
- Website
- eurasiaoverland.com
For sure the 3BII head is quite different - the most obvious difference being much larger pushrod bores. I also suspect that the overall block length is longer, (which allows it to be bored out from 102 mm to 108 mm in the 15B) meaning that the bolt pattern would be different. There are very few important parts on a 3B which were carried over to a 3BII.
So overall I would think it is very unlikely that a 3BII head would fit and work correctly on a 3B block.
DI engines don't tend to crack heads and it's not a weakness of the 12H-T. The problem with the engine is lack of parts supply - I think it's about AU$2000 for a used 12H-T head in Australia. Must be a sellers market in the US.
Not really. It's still got crappy pre-combustion chambers, though the heads don't seem so prone to cracking unless the engine is turbocharged.
A 14B or 15B-F would be the best solution IMO - easy parts availability (the 14B is still in production), no chassis/transmission/driveline modifications (maybe a bit of clutch housing grinding on earlier H55Fs) and a big improvement on a 3B in every way. And a far better platform to put a turbocharger on than a weak IDI engine. The only snag for some would be that they are hard/expensive to find in North America.
Last edited:
So then you found a used head I’m guessing?
No it was several years back when my original head cracked. The shop I speak about in the previous post said it was beyond repair. I bought a new head out of China off ali-express. That head lasted until the LC overheated again............my alternate coolant hose on the suction side developed a pinhole where it rubbed on the frame. That caused an air bubble/cavitation at the water pump impeller so no water circulation. Overheated engine while radiator was still cold .......will do a engine swap when the LC comes back in focus of attention.
I’ll check mine.
It’s strange, the gauge never says it’s hot, but sometimes I worry it’s not reading correctly.
Great.
jim land
SILVER Star
Love the 14B for the reasons you mentioned. Not sure that is still in production though...
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2020
- Threads
- 112
- Messages
- 1,503
- Location
- Brunei Darussalam
- Website
- eurasiaoverland.com
Still being fitted to BB60 Coasters in some markets:
That’s what I’ll go for next if my little 3B ever pops. But it’s only got 110,000km on it.
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2003
- Threads
- 200
- Messages
- 1,808
- Location
- Sherwood Park, Alberta
- Website
- fawcusfitness.com
Just pulled another head from a 3B that WAS not cracked yesterday.
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2003
- Threads
- 200
- Messages
- 1,808
- Location
- Sherwood Park, Alberta
- Website
- fawcusfitness.com
Sorry it is for a customer of mine.how much
