Ugh. I need some heads, where to buy?

They are on the website. There are many options, even LPG heads for propane conversion (interesting). They sell pairs of "new" heads made from Chinese castings for $1300 or remanufactured OEM heads for $500 each with a core exchange - they don't actually specify in the listing that these heads are OEM remanufactured but Tim told me they are. There is also an option to buy reman heads with no core exchange for $605. The listings specify the heads are complete with valves correctly adjusted.

I'll be sure to post a description of what I receive. No word on ship date, though the website says there could be delays of a couple weeks. Honestly I am ok with that, I have other things I need to be working on and I still need to order some gaskets for the project.

 

Awesome, thanks for the information. I just got my other head off the truck, trying to decide what to do. Cleaned it up, but seems like the exhaust valves are leaking. Feeling like pressing the easy button and getting 2 re-man heads and putting it all back together.

Yotashop has gasket kits, but from what I can tell it’s cheaper to piece things together from the usual Toyota OEM parts sources online.

Don’t forget studs etc as well

 

Heads were supposed to be delivered today by FedEx but they've been delayed. I don't think they have even left Florida. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Uh-oh…what’s up with that?

 

Probably just FedEx doing FedEx stuff. I'm not too concerned really at this point. In the past I've had packages show no progress right up until the FedEx driver leaves the package on my doorstep. Fingers crossed that'll happen this time.

 

They arrived! Just ran home to put the boxes in the house and snap a quick pic.

 

Good packaging! Hope you can share some more pics when you unpack

 

Here's a few. I only unpacked one head so far. I noticed a few details like the wire through the cam gears. It looks like he properly preloaded the gears. I was actually a bit worried about this. I'm going to go through these heads pretty detailed prior to installation to be sure I don't see any defects. This coming from a guy who doesn't really know much about heads, bit I'm learning more all the time unfortunately.

 

Nice. I would replace that wire with a bolt before you remove them. Biggest thing to check would be condition of the journals (and are the caps in the right position/orientation), and the proper valve adjustments (so you’ll need a feeler gauge set). I don’t know much about this stuff either though, so hopefully a few more can chime in.
Did they include studs for exhaust/intake?

 

For sure I'll secure the gears with a bolt before removal/installation.

One thing I noticed is there are only a couple exhaust studs in the head I've looked at, and one of the studs is bent. No big deal, I've got plenty of exhaust studs. I'm going to replace the studs and make sure they they thread in well before installing the head. It's Friday evening and I've got some things to do, I'll unbox the other head tomorrow and check them both out. I'll definitely post a review and more pics.

 

Just looking through my Yotashop head gasket kit and noticed what looks like 2 sets of head gaskets. One set of OEM and one non branded. Got any insight as to why? The unbranded seem significantly thinner.

Edited to add, I've been watching a YouTube series on this project and haven't gotten to the gasket section yet. Maybe there's an explanation I just don't know about yet. The unbranded aren't actually that much thinner, but they do seem thinner.

 

Are either of them multi layer steel? 99 and later were “upgraded” with MLS, I believe it’s considered superior to the previous single layer.

 

The -62081 HG’s appear to be the 99 and later MLS head gaskets, at least that is what 2m of googling tells me. I would use those

 

Definitely use the OEM labeled gasket, I was already 99% sure of that. The other gaskets look nice, the quality seems good. Funny thing is though, I can't see myself ever using them. God forbid I have to take these heads off again, but if I do I would definitely spend the money on OEM gaskets.

 

Yeah no kidding the price of gaskets is nothing compared to the labor involved in getting to them!

Did yotahop mess up or did you get 2 different gasket kits? I was poking around there and it seems like there isn’t one kit that gets you everything you need, but if you get 2 kits you have duplicates.

 

I ordered the 1020B kit, which doesn't specifically say it comes with both. It does say it includes genuine Toyota MLS, but the picture shows the composite I believe. Maybe that's why the kit is overpriced. I just said f it and bought the kit. Honestly ordering from Toyota dealers takes forever sometimes, like the majority of project time is waiting for parts.

This time it was the heads holding things up, they took almost exactly 1 month. Gasket kit was here in about 4 or 5 days. It's got cam oil seals, fuel rail o rings, etc. Nice to get it all in one package.