72 Suburban cylinder head question
 

Hi, everyone,

Just bought a very original, but really, really rough (sat outside untouched since 1988) 72 K10 Suburban & I'm just hoping to work over the next couple of years to get her into a decent beater to use on the farm & for fishing/camping/hunting. So, hoping to spend as little as possible. The engine's stuck. I got one head off so far & hoping to get the other off today if weather holds. Cylinders on the side I removed look really good, no real ring groove, surface rust...just appear to need some penetrating oil, some plumber's cloth maybe, then push the pistons out, hone the bores & go with new rings and bearings. Anyway, my question is with the heads:

They're 487X castings (casting date indicates actually cast in 71) and as long as they're not cracked, they look really good. Valves are all sitting way up high and even all across. Do any of you know whether they have induction hardened exhaust seats? Hoping that I can run them with just a decent valve job & not have to spend the extra cash for a hardened seat install.

Thanks for any information and take care.

Clueless

Re: 72 Suburban cylinder head question
 

I don't have a clue about that casting number, but if it was running in the 80's it was on unleaded fuel. So if the seats look good then they are most likely a hardened seat of some kind. If they aren't hardened and look good then you may have a fresh valve job and are good for 30-40k miles at the least. If it was mine and the seats look good I would install some new positive seals on the valves and move forward.

Re: 72 Suburban cylinder head question
 

Howdy, 455,

Good points, all. Thanks for the wisdom. The odometer shows 25,900, which means at least 125,900. It hadn't occurred to me that a good number of those would've been on unleaded gasoline given it was on the road till '88, but it surely makes sense. That makes me feel a ton better about my chances at keeping costs down. Thanks, again. I've only been on this forum for a short time, but I'm already learning a lot. Take care.

A little less clueless, HA!

Re: 72 Suburban cylinder head question
 

How about posting some photos? We all love that stuff.