Vortec head crack

[Justa1time]

Good evening,

Today I snagged a Vortec 350 core engine for $200. I lost the bet on the heads being good.

1 obvious Crack
Other head may be good? Yet to be determined.

Anyone have some clever ideas to test for more cracks with the heads off the engine without owning a Magnaflux set up?

At this point I will still inspect these. Maybe cut one cross sectionally and get a good look at how thick the casting is in the chamber area to visualize why this happens.

Bryan

[lance flake]

If they have been started up and ran for 10 minutes there is about a 75% chance they are cracked.

[Tom68]

Heavily receded yet the next one looks hung open.

Been working hard pulling loads I guess.

[machinedave]

If you do not have a magnetic particle inspection system you can check them with a less effective way. Start by scraping the gasket surfaces and cleaning the chambers with a wire wheel in a drill. Next clean the chambers with carb clean and then blow everything off with compressed air. Lastly spray some fast evaporating carb clean spray over the usual suspicious areas and watch it evaporate. Many times, the cracked area will be the last area to evaporate. You have to watch it carefully and it helps to have a flashlight to see it. Check the three head bolt-water jacket areas on the intake side because they are common crack areas especially the center one.