To head or not to head???

[francophile1947]

Hi John,
If the eBay shop is selling the part as a "Mazda Bongo B2500 Ford Ranger WL Cylinder Head NEW"
is there a chance that it might not be exactly suitable for my Bongo?
I queried them and they said that it was suitable for both the Mazda and Ford.
Any advice would be appreciated, I have to make the purchase today and I am leaning towards paying the extra and going with the Bongo shop.
Regards and thanks
Tim

PM sent

[Dave.]

My bongo has the ranger head and you can tee off the pipe and fit a bleed pipe with minimal effort ,as for extra pipes well mine hasn't got one.

As for trusting someone on a spelling error well thats just silly ,i have a friend who cant spell to save his life but yet he owns two old folks homes and a holiday park ! very cleaver chap indeed.

My head is being skimmed and tested ,i took it in today due to water pump failing ,if my head is scrap im gonna punt for the one in the link

No way on this earth is a head worth £650 with or without gaskets an bolts, well not to me at least.

p.s. i took the camshaft and rockers off the head today took about 6 minutes ,then the valves with a spring compressor

took about 20 mins .so a garage should charge you 30 mins-hour tops labour.

Im wondering if the oem heads are made in china? has anyone prooved that a chineese head is bad?

[Dave.]

In fact my friend here is a bare head OE japanese quality with a head gasket set with new stretch bolts for £259 with free postage
And a 12 month warranty ! i would love to buy this and the £650+ one and have a good eng shop take a look to see where the quality differers

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... _732wt_905

56795 100% positive feedback ! uk seller

[bigdaddycain]

As for trusting someone on a spelling error well thats just silly ,i have a friend who cant spell to save his life but yet he owns two old folks homes and a holiday park ! very cleaver chap indeed.

Not quite as "silly" as it would first seem. And just for the record, i never implied his intellect was based on his spelling ability. I doubt your friend in his proffesion(s) relied too much on his writing/spelling abilities. I wonder just how "experienced" a cylinder head engineering firm can be that has never read, nor written the word tappets.

[Dave.]

As for trusting someone on a spelling error well thats just silly ,i have a friend who cant spell to save his life but yet he owns two old folks homes and a holiday park ! very cleaver chap indeed.

Not quite as "silly" as it would first seem. And just for the record, i never implied his intellect was based on his spelling ability. I doubt your friend in his proffesion(s) relied too much on his writing/spelling abilities. I wonder just how "experienced" a cylinder head engineering firm can be that has never read, nor written the word tappets.

Point taken
But lets face it i doubt if the enineer wrote the ebay listing id say the lesser educated receptionist or in fact a teenage family member hehe ,a lot of oldboys steer clear of computers

[timorr]

Thanks everyone for all the input and knowledge...it is great to see the passion and expertise that is willing to be shared.

I suppose that the problem for me, and probably many of the users on this forum, is that before I put up the question I was not even sure what a cylinder head was, never mind a tappet, tipit, titbit or what ever it is!!!

We are lucky to all have access to such a world wide wealth of information that the internet provides. It does however mean that non experts like myself can sometime get a little over involved and out of our depth. Unfortunately it also means that there are plenty of chancres (none mentioned on this site!!!) out there willing to take advantage of our enthusiasm and maybe make a quick buck.

It is always fascinating to see such a range of different prices for apparently the same product. I may not know about engines and gaskets but if it is similar to musical instruments (my area of expertise) you can put two in front of me and I could instantly tell you which cost £250 and which cost £650.
I would be interested to know if as suggested by Dave this would be as recognisable when it came to a cylinder head.

Anyway I have made my decision on which head to get. It would probably not help for me to say which company I went with and how much I paid...unless it doesn't do what it says on the tin, then I will be happy to name.

Thanks again for all your input
Tim

[wishmaster]

Good luck Tim with the rebuild which ever one you've plumbed for Report back when you can.

[timorr]

OK...time for report back on what happened.

After 4 weeks I finally got to go and pick up my Bongo from the garage with the new cylinder head fitted.
Parts ended up costing €1500 and labour costing €1000
This included:
- complete new dressed head, belts and new water pump
- new front discs and pads
- fitting of third air con compressor and new belt
- complete service

So €2500 down I drove out of the garage, ready for another 100000km of pleasure.

Pulled into the first petrol station on the way home as tank was empty. On filling it up found that the fuel gauge is not working. Pissed off, I put on the new air con to cool myself down and found the fan would not come on at all (in any setting). Steaming I started back to the garage but before I got there, the back section of the exhaust fell completely off.

I love my Bongo but the gods that be seem to be, are full of Fury...!

Is there a prize for the saddest garage experience on this forum, and can I put my name forward.

[Northern Bongolow]

not exactly the drive home you desired,but dont give up now, after major surgery the bongo is bound to be a little sore.

[Aunt Trumpet]

I'm going through the changing head experience at the mo too. After much research on the net I decided to get a bare head from Bongobits. They turned out to be the cheapest, and if you ask nicely you might even get a "trade" discount. I found them to be very helpful and knowledgeable which gave me a lot of confidence in them.

I had a word with a mechanic mate of mine who said that there should be no reason as to why the old cam and ancillaries shouldn't be fine on the new head and at nearly £200 difference then it was a no brainer for me.

Hopefully it will all arrive tomorrow.

[timorr]

Hmmm....just thought that anyone reading this post that I started some time ago, might be interested in reading my newly created follow up post.
http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... =3&t=49778
However be prepared for sad news....