E30 Zone

Hello Guys/Gals

Any recommendation where I can get a good cylinder head for 325 (885)

I know there are OEM heads then FAB heads but is anybody else good but not as expensive.

My defintion of good= pressure tested skimmed not welded..oh and brand new OM of course.

names (w/ prices if you have them) will be greatly apperciated.

What are your opinons of gurantees for used heads? I assume they must have so many caveats that they are almost worthless. If you fit the head badly and it cracks the seller can't be liable for that.

Also where is a good place to get my old head reconditioned. It will nice to have a back up just in case.

I have one here, pressure tested, skimmed by only 0.002" with a reciept for the work dated a month ago. All threads are good. Never been fitted, no Cam or followers inc. £275 collection from Near gatwick. It's the umpteenth one I've done with zero complaints so far. Can ship at owners expense to within the UK.

I'll partex your head as long as it's never had any over heating issues and the galleries are good.

Thanks B7 but I was only looking for opinions/past experiences ...funds are not quite permitted for a wanted ad this month hence I posted here.

I guess nobody has had a head go on a 325

georgee wrote:Thanks B7 but I was only looking for opinions/past experiences ...funds are not quite permitted for a wanted ad this month hence I posted here.

I guess nobody has had a head go on a 325

Loadds of people on here will have had to had replacement castings.

If you want a gaurantee of a brand new head that will give you 100k more miles then over £2.5k will see you okay at the dealers.

However, NO recon head is completely warranteeable against cracking in the near future. They are all used heads and therefore it's impossible to know how close (if at all) they are to cracking. They are ALL a lottery.

You are correct, that if you use inferior parts of fit it incorrect, it's down to you or your mechanic.

The machine work, pressure test and ther sorting of any studs now costs me nearly £100 in addition to the cost of the actual part in the first place.

Here is a couple of shots of my head to show what £275 buys you:

AMC heads are the only alternative that I know of to a BMW head if you want brand new.

I think you'd be looking at around 600 quid for just the casting.

Quality, while not BMW standard, is apparently quite good.

http://www.amc.es/

Last M20 head that I fully re-furbed,just letting the engine man remove broken studs and fit new guides,cost me in exess of £350.But this was a 'ready to use' head,with decent cam,rockers and shafts.

885 heads seem to crack along the bottom of the cam valley,a difficult and expensive repair that only a man with plenty of (expensive)skill can weld properly.
A welded repair on the face surface of the head to a water gallery(usually over the exhaust side)by comparison is reasonably cheap.

Rocker's alone are more than £12 each,meaning that a full set will cost at least £150....

Remember that the cylinder head is the 'heart' of these engines,the bottom end is very strong,and with regular oil changes will easily excced 250k miles.

clipper wrote:AMC heads are the only alternative that I know of to a BMW head if you want brand new.

I think you'd be looking at around 600 quid for just the casting.

Quality, while not BMW standard, is apparently quite good.

http://www.amc.es/

AMC heads are excellent quality, I have never seen a cracked one . In fact , I would fit one in preferrence to a BMW casting !

I have this complete head for sale: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :MESELX:IT

pacerpete wrote:

clipper wrote:AMC heads are the only alternative that I know of to a BMW head if you want brand new.

I think you'd be looking at around 600 quid for just the casting.

Quality, while not BMW standard, is apparently quite good.

http://www.amc.es/

AMC heads are excellent quality, I have never seen a cracked one . In fact , I would fit one in preferrence to a BMW casting !

During a classic car show in Madrid, when I was on the stand for our club I was talking to a mechanic (a proper "old boy" mechanic who understood engineering, not a spotty parts fitter), and he said that he had bought one for his own car and before fitting had taken all the crucial detailed measurments, ports valves etc and compared them with a BMW head and that they were all spot on.

What he did say is that the niceties, like the outside finish, particularly along the edges weren`t quite as "clean" as a BMW head.

But it does coincide with your opinion that they are certainly worth buying and using.

clipper wrote:
I think you'd be looking at around 600 quid for just the casting.

http://www.amc.es/

I wonder what price we could get for a group buy?

Would AMC deal direct with the customer?

daimlerman wrote:Last M20 head that I fully re-furbed,just letting the engine man remove broken studs and fit new guides,cost me in exess of £350.But this was a 'ready to use' head,with decent cam,rockers and shafts.

885 heads seem to crack along the bottom of the cam valley,a difficult and expensive repair that only a man with plenty of (expensive)skill can weld properly.
A welded repair on the face surface of the head to a water gallery(usually over the exhaust side)by comparison is reasonably cheap.

Rocker's alone are more than £12 each,meaning that a full set will cost at least £150....

Remember that the cylinder head is the 'heart' of these engines,the bottom end is very strong,and with regular oil changes will easily excced 250k miles.

You did well, mine owes me £700 for combining the best bits out of two heads, new valve stem seals, exhaust valve guides and some rockers and valves along with a proper clean, repaint and skim.

edit: All done in the shop, I'm too cack handed to trust myself this far into an engine

daimlerman wrote:

clipper wrote:
I think you'd be looking at around 600 quid for just the casting.

http://www.amc.es/

I wonder what price we could get for a group buy?

Would AMC deal direct with the customer?

Dunno, if there's interest I'll give them a call, but I've already got an 885 head spare (as I know many other 325 owners have) so there may not be that much demand for a group buy......

clipper wrote:

daimlerman wrote:

clipper wrote:
I think you'd be looking at around 600 quid for just the casting.

http://www.amc.es/

I wonder what price we could get for a group buy?

Would AMC deal direct with the customer?

Dunno, if there's interest I'll give them a call, but I've already got an 885 head spare (as I know many other 325 owners have) so there may not be that much demand for a group buy......

any idea how much they charge? can't seem to find a price list on the site

clipper is suggesting £600 for a bare head,my thoughts were that if we could get that down to £500 for a head with valve guides fitted....

That sounds expensive,but scroll back up to Trev's(B7) post,he is asking £275 for a used,tested head with valves fitted,but not the 24 month warranty that AMC seem to offer.

I would be interested to learn just how many we would need to buy,to get a sensible price!

Not knocking Trev in any way,but a brand new casting must offer advantages for long-term owners.
I am in a position to offer storage/forwarding to UK buyers.

You never know..... it could be worth a try. Especially if AMC are looking at a big shelf of spare heads that aren't shifting. OTOH it might be 5 years too early. You can but ask!

My 600 quid quote was based on conversations I've had here with people about them, but I'll have a look round to see if I can find a firm reference to a price anywhere.

I don't know if AMC already have an exclusive distributor in the UK who sets their own price which would have to cover shipping costs too or if we could negotiate direct with the factory and pay our own shipping....

clipper wrote:My 600 quid quote was based on conversations I've had here with people about them, but I'll have a look round to see if I can find a firm reference to a price anywhere.

I don't know if AMC already have an exclusive distributor in the UK who sets their own price which would have to cover shipping costs too or if we could negotiate direct with the factory and pay our own shipping....

If you have the time to see what could be available,I would be both interested and gratefull.

I would be up for a new assmbled head for £600.

Until then I guess I will have to roll the dice.

georgee wrote:I would be up for a new assmbled head for £600.

Until then I guess I will have to roll the dice.

Unlikely,but if we can buy a bare casting with valve guides fitted(difficult for the DIY guy at home)for less than,say,£500...with a 24 month warranty...I feel that we are onto something.
Let's see if clipper can negotiate some kind of deal first,and go from there.

I think that hoping for an assembled head for 600 quid is living in a dream world TBH, just price up the costs for new guides, valves, springs, rockers excentrics, rockers, shafts and cam and add that to the ESTIMATE of 600 quid for the casting and see how much you're looking at. Then add labour costs for assembling.....

Lets be realistic here.

I've just found some commercial vehicle prices for AMC van heads that were between 900 and 1100 Euros. Casting only. As yet no BMW prices.....

clipper wrote:I think that hoping for an assembled head for 600 quid is living in a dream world TBH, just price up the costs for new guides, valves, springs, rockers excentrics, rockers, shafts and cam and add that to the ESTIMATE of 600 quid for the casting and see how much you're looking at. Then add labour costs for assembling.....

Lets be realistic here.

I've just found some commercial vehicle prices for AMC van heads that were between 900 and 1100 Euros. Casting only. As yet no BMW prices.....

My point exactly. It'll be 600 quid for the casting I suspect. Sound to me like it could be considerably more. At the very least you'll need a set of valve stem seals (if using your valve gear) and if you've outlaid £600 then you'd be a mug not to fit genuine and thats another £40.


It's horses for courses but you are already into fairly big money. Now consider what the average 4 door 325i is worth and £275 seems an attractive alternative!

Trev is making sense, but if 2.5k buys you a fully assembled head from BMW (or at least the parts), then there can't be much of a market for the AMC castings.....

How much do BMW charge for just a casting then ?

On 04/02/2003 chassis number EA60500 was released from Cooper Maldon in Essex after the owner had just had removed from his bank account, the grand sum of £2096.94. The car was running nicely though due to them having fitted a brand new casting, Cam, Rockers, timing belt etc. Note, there were no valves, rocker shafts or clips etc.

The casting, part number 11.12.1.707.032 was £730.19 PLUS VAT

over 8 years ago! The listed price now in US$ on OEM is $1925 which equates to approx £1200.

That casting is now on my C2.7 engine having covered less than 50k

Where to get some Good Head ;)

£10 in middlesbro apparently

magpie wrote:Where to get some Good Head ;)

£10 in middlesbro apparently

Snag is,you invariably end up paying the other £10 and 'going all the way'...

magpie wrote:Where to get some Good Head ;)

£10 in middlesbro apparently

Youve been ripped off Mick. Up the wrong'n is £10 here....

They are all wrong'ns though

Dezzy wrote:

magpie wrote:Where to get some Good Head ;)

£10 in middlesbro apparently

Youve been ripped off Mick. Up the wrong'n is £10 here....

They are all wrong'ns though

As are them that pay for it Dezzy... What's wrong with a bit of DIY?