1981 Ford Granada 3.3 L Cylinder Head

[tony1963]

Well, the verdict is in. The cylinder head was cracked in two places. One along cylinder #3 and one between the exhaust seat and outer combustion chamber on #4. The shop welded the cracks and we installed it today.

The ENGINE (hot/oil) light never came on while I drove this car and I wonder if it overheated once or is the cracked cylinder head just part of the engine design?

I did use the hardened grade 8 washers under the head bolts, torqued the head to 73 ft lbs. Over the next several weekends, I finish all of the hookups and get this thing back on the road.

 

[rbohm]

8) cylinder heads tend to crack when they have been over heated and frozen over a few cycles. some heads have a casting flaw that allows stress risers to form, and some heads are born to crack like the 2.9L V6 ford heads.

 

[Anlushac11]

Seeing how many late model heads seem to have cracks Im tending to think there is a casting flaw somewhere.

Its like the 2.3L OHC heads, its hard to find one that doesnt have a cracked exhaust port.