S52 cracks in head. To repair or replace?

[aventari]

98 M3, S52. Car was blowing tons of coolant steam so I pulled the head and found this... Head gasket is fine, so it's just these cracks steaming.

I'm right next to a good quality machine shop--should I get the cracks welded up and head rebuilt, or look for another M52/S52 head?

How much should I pay for a used head?


Cyl#4



Cyl #3


Paid $700 for the car, was blowing steam and had a bent strut tower. I paid $1200 to fix the strut tower and am now fixing the motor.

[wilholl]

Check this out. I don't think this is a bad deal

http://www.autoheadperformance.com

Talk to Sheldon this is his specialty.

Or a cheaper way to go is find a good m50 head and swap the s52 stuff over.

[mpowerful]

My guess is it would be cheaper to get a good head and swap everything over. Id find a good junkyard one (they cost about 60 bucks around here) and take it to a machine shop and have deck checked and magnafluxed. If it checks out have them put guides in it and swap everything over. They are basically gonna have to dissassemble the other head and do all that anyway to weld it.