Restored mpg after head replacement, happy.

[///Manuel]

It feels good getting decent gas mileage again.
After the first tank (drove gently) I got 22.0mpg and got 21.4mpg on the second one (drove a little harder). All with 91 above 5,000'.
Helps with today higher cost of fuel.

EDIT: The best I ever got was 23 before replacement, the worse was 14mpg against windy 77mph speeds.

EDIT2: 21.5 with 87 with half 65+ and half 75+. I'm constantly hitting over 20mpg.

 

[jd4242]

Nice.witch head did you use again?

 

[///Manuel]

One head was sent from Alabama, the other King Cylinder.
Both were new 93tm. All stock except for the push rods, I got from pushrods.net but was an unnecessary upgrade really since I'm all stock.

 

[jd4242]

One head was sent from Alabama, the other King Cylinder.
Both were new 93tm. All stock except for the push rods, I got from pushrods.net but was an unnecessary upgrade really since I'm all stock.

Why two different heads? Yea you didnt need anything fancy.

 

[///Manuel]

I think King Cyl had one sent from Alabama. Alabama was out of stock.

 

[///Manuel]

Went to Wyoming and back, lots of wind and steep hills. Filled up with 91.
1/3 77mph, 1/3 70mph+, 15mns city and the rest 60+.
Still managed over 20mpg with a couple hundred of pounds of cargo.
Current mileage looks to be close to 25. Speeds are a mix of 65 and 75mph. Filled up with 87, 91 wasn't available.

 

[cerberusaardvark]

thats awesome. i just got my felpro head gasket set and i ordered two heads from alabama, with the valve springs included and installed. did you re use your valve train? i dont know whether to order a new set of lifters, etc. how was the start up? how was hooking up the stock fuel rail to your new heads? any mentionable snags? i ask because its pretty hard to find a thread on here that ends happily and simply after a head/ head gasket repair job. im trying to figure out what im in for.

 

[///Manuel]

thats awesome. i just got my felpro head gasket set and i ordered two heads from alabama, with the valve springs included and installed. did you re use your valve train? i dont know whether to order a new set of lifters, etc. how was the start up? how was hooking up the stock fuel rail to your new heads? any mentionable snags? i ask because its pretty hard to find a thread on here that ends happily and simply after a head/ head gasket repair job. im trying to figure out what im in for.

I changed both heads (fully assembled so valves, valve seats, springs, etc.) all rocker arms and push rods, no lifters. I think that's it.
Pull lifters one by one and check for wear, unfortunately you need to pull things apart before ordering. I changed one injector, the other ones were newer.

I thought everything was rather easy, ordering parts and cleaning up the block (cleaned the piston tops as well) took the longest.

PS: Got 22mpg on 87. Funny to see near 400 miles on one tank.