King Cylinder Heads - anyone buy their new 3rz heads?

I called and spoke to a guy named Mike. He is very confident in the reliability of their heads, because he claims they work directly with the foundry in china to maintain quality. He claims they do the machining/assembly themselves, and sell about 3/wk with zero issues. They will sell me a new head for $700 + tax, ready to bolt on.

My other options include buying a reman head from a shop which harvests from scrap yards for $550. They repair the cracked heads and reman them. I am not confident in these as they are already fatigued and it seems they'd be likely to crack again.

Toyota OE casting ($1100), which includes only valve guides and seats. I'd swap over my valvetrain and replace any bad valves. I'd have to buy a bunch of shims to adjust to spec ($).

Bottom end seems fine. I burn a little oil.. nothing out of the ordinary.

Advice and anecdotes welcome

 

If your trucks still in good shape, lower mileage and you depend on it to get to work, I'd go with Toyota parts. If it's just a every now and again ride or is pretty high miles I'd get the Chinese head.
If it were me and the truck had under 200k I'd get the Toyota head. You would probably still have at least another 100-150k left in it as long as it's been took care of.

 

Also there's a Toyota dealer on here that is a vendor, I think they give a pretty significant discount compared to most dealers.

 

I'm not rich enough to do something that expensive twice.

 

Have you pulled your head yet to see if it cracked? it could just be a head gasket.

 

I'd hit up this place and see if they can get you a head - their feedback and ratings are second to none. I found them when looking for 5vz heads that they have for $375 each which is a darn good deal for a quality job. I'll probably be porting my own after they get inspected by a machine shop so I didn't go with them.

https://www.headsonly.com/

 

I wonder where they do that work as the address from the website shows some shithole plaza in Oakland. I have zero confidence in anyone who does not have physical location I can see.

I wonder if this is another one guy import company acting as a middle man between you and some China supplier. What "Mike" says is probably all true: he is confident and whe works with China supplier but his confidence does not necessarily change the quality of rip-off product.

In my opinion i wouldn't put such part in a truck unless I intend to kill it in off road excercise within a year anyway. I would rather go with junk yard or OEM cast (not cracked) and rebuild the head. But it's just me.

 

This market seems to have a disproportionately large amount of scammers.

If you're interested you can watch this series of head gasket videos. I know they're not for your engine, but the third and fourth video might empower / interest you because they're more about general head inspection.

Part 1


Part 3


Part 4

 

What poeple don't know is the fancy website is not how you should judge the company by. I can build pretty website full of lies in one day and get domain with hosted server for 20 bucks. I can photoshop you any image you want that even expert will not be able to see the fake. I know, I work in IT.

Lowlife take advantage of that and hurt poeple who are easy deceived by on-line appearance. Sad times. I prefer to "kick the tire" before the buy. I know it is often not practical but I'd often dpend more money locally where I can see what I'm paying for.

 

Everyone is sexy online

 

I'm just reporting his claims, not backing them up or believing them. Just interested in hearing what people think about the options. The thing I don't like about the China head is that ALL of the parts are new and not Toyota.. cams, lifters, springs, seals, etc.

OE is expensive. I've estimated the job with OE parts to be around $1800.

I checked out the CHI link. They seem to be OK with cracked cores, which leads me to believe they weld these. I am skeptical about using any rebuilt stuff as it seems like it will inevitably develop cracks again.

One other option is M&M cylinder heads which will use a new China casting and machine it to spec if anything is out. They would use my valve train to build up the head. They estimated at around $800.

I am surprised there aren't more reports of heads being done on the boards. I have found a lot of limited and spotty info on here about what people have ended up going with. This seems to be a common issue (cracks) and the trucks are worth saving.

 

I had that service done locally when my head cracked. OEM Toyota valve train in a china casting that was checked multiple times for tolerance.

 

My Reher-Morrison Engine Assembly book says that aluminum heads can be repaired. The place I listed has been in business a long time with no negative feedback except for one international guy complaining they don't ship internationally even though they have the word on their name. It seems like he's been in business long enough with all good reviews that he'd be doing things the right way. (Still laughing at that review though - the irony). Up to you though.

 

So there are no 1st gen Tacoma on a junk yard anywhere with not cracked head? There were many ways to kill 1stgen Tacoma, but hardly because of the engine.

It is hard for me to believe that this is "common issue". Same thing as LBJ failing. I understand that head can crack if improper installed or overheated. Maybe I have to much confidence in Toyota but even when my head gasket failed (I mean in my truck, not in my head) the had zero issues. I hope to keep it this way.

 

The key here is that they need to be heat treated after welding. Is this something that head shops do regularly? I'll have to inquire and get the low down from the head shops in qustion

 

Always worth asking about. Pics of your damage?

 

No pics. I'm still driving the truck. It's just... tired. I did a leak down test which led to my conclusion.

Just spoke to Mike at M&M Cylinder Heads. The guy sounds very knowledgeable and urged me to pursue the TGP head once I mentioned it was an option.

He claims that the chinese heads:

• Typically require machining to bring the valve clearances into spec. Otherwise they can't get shims big enough to set proper clearance.
• Are not heat treated as well as the Toyota heads
• Have softer valve seats (heat treating)
• Sometimes have misc issues that require some work (ie bolt holes etc)

I asked about the bottom end and he suggested replacing the rings, rod bearings, and honing it.

I have to add all this up.. but I want that new toyota head. Only then will I finally have all 150 hp at my disposal

 

How is your head holding up? Have you been in there to check/readjust the valve clearance since the rebuild? Has the valve clearance changed at all?

Also.. I realize this is less quantitative, but after the rebuild... does your truck feel like it has an appropriate amount of power for its size/weight? I'm not looking for 'fast' but I would like to be able to accelerate in 5th gear (my truck is regeared to 4.56). I haven't been in any other 4cyl 1st gens, so I have basically no base reference to compare against.. just the distant memory of driving my stock truck around when I bought it 6 years ago.

 

Found a head casting at olathe toyota's online site for 675 shipped and ordered it. Must be old stock.

Also ordered Toyota valve seals, head gasket, a few valves, etc from mcgeorgetoyota, which has the best prices I've seen online.

Looking forward to joining the 150hp club

 

Haha, they aren't powerful but they are strong. I rip on mine like a rented mule. Keep it pinging off the rev limiter and she goes. But maintenance is key of course.