How susceptible are the multi-piece cool-heads to leakage?

[bigblockbanshee]

I'm almost done building my engine and ready to set in the frame but I have some concerns about the head. First off I have a cool head made by Top Notch Design that I bought off of another member on here a few years back and I'm just now getting ready to bolt it on. As far as I can tell it's brand new and I have a new o-ring kit to go with it. It is identical to the Pro-Design style that so many people have complaints of leaking. My question is how susceptible are they to leaking? If the cylinders are flat and flush, the head is not warped, and it is torqued in the correct sequence to the correct specs, what is left to fail? This engine was the victim of the typical right cylinder leakage as so many of them have and it trashed a good crank, piston, and the head when it was together before. I have already bought a stock head that will be available to me should I change my mind and want to use it but as I said I just don't wanna take a chance on it if the cool heads are so easy to leak. This motor won't have anything special done to it, just a set of T5s and Wiseco slugs.

 

I'm sure there is a thread or threads somewhere to answer my question so if there is instead of flaming me to hell just point me in the right direction please.

[locogato11283]

Installed properly there is no reason for them to leak. I've never had one leak and I've been using a NOSS head for years.

[bigblockbanshee]

That's exactly what I was wondering. So it's normally installer error or cylinders/head out of square then? Guess I'm just being paranoid but it's taken me 4 years to finally get this thing where it is now. That being said I'm just not in any position to take a chance on it possibly leaking and scrapping another engine but then again I didn't see any reason for it to.

Edited November 14, 2010 by bigblockbanshee

[bansheesrtoys]

be care with that top notch head . because i bought one new from them a few years back and it was machined wrong from them. it leaked from day one . i called them and told them and they said they were having problems with the maching, so they sent me another one but it leaked to so i got my money back and bought a pro design one and had no problems so far

[GNR101]

ive never had 1 leak ... and i dont even change the orings

[AKheathen]

one of the biggest reasons for leaking on any head is lack of re-torquing after a few heat cycles. it's not just cool-heads. i think the cool-heads get the rep because many just slap one on, where they otherwise would not even have the head off in the first place. the only other thing is when you get crazy with the compression (like 200psi cranking+) then it can add to the chances of blowing out an o-ring, but for most......just make sure to re-torque....

[bigblockbanshee]

Awesome, thanks all. I think I'm gonna go ahead with my original plan and try it out. Now let's see if we can get this thing on the trail!