New or Rebuilt cylinder heads?

[Yehoshua]

Thinking about buying a pair of heads from clearwater for my rebuild. Rebuilt heads are 600 for the pair or 800 for new. Would you guys spend the extra cash for new? Is there any benefit to the rebuilts, like they are already seasoned with no cracks so better chance of them not cracking in the future?

[DmaxMaverick]

Clearwater heads (Chinese), new or otherwise, OK for your mother-in-law's car. Otherwise, genuine AMG heads are $1000 a pair, new. How long do you intend to keep the truck, and how hard are you going to work it?

Seriously, in my experience, it's about use, economics, and luck. Mostly in the agriculture and oil fields, the Clearwater heads have been about 50%. We have yet to return a set of AMG heads. Clearwater doesn't pay for warranty labor or down time. (or bolts and gaskets)

[Yehoshua]

I would like to get another 100,000 miles on my truck (163,000 as of now.) I definitely considered the AMG heads. I think the cheapest I have seen the heads so far are 550 a piece. Those were for the optimizer heads. However that did not include shipping. That was another benefit to the clearwater heads is the price includes shipping. I think you are right though, if I want the reliability I should just go ahead and get the AMG heads. Where did you see the pair for a 1000?

[Robyn]

I used a set of CW heads on our 94 Burb, and when we sold it it had about 50k on the overhaul.

What Maverick said is spot on.

If you are looking for long term returns on the engine, get a set of AMG heads.
If the build is on a budget, then the CW heads can be a viable option.

Absolutely stay away from the rebuilt GM heads.
These are going to have a bazzzzzilion miles on the castings and it's a crap shoot as to how long they will last.

Fretolay was using the CW heads on engines in their chip trucks for a long time, and bought the heads by the pallet full, as they were the best bang for the buck.

The $1000 for factory AMG heads is steep, but worth the $$$ for the long haul

Missy

[trbankii]

The other costs to factor in are downtime and labor for swapping heads. Figuring that you want another 100K out of the truck, the AMG heads seem like a no-brainer when you consider that “saving” money on anything else could mean being stranded somewhere, plus another set of heads, plus labor to put those heads into the truck.