Ok so I need a new head. My question, does casting matter. I have a 2.4L 4 cylinder the engine model is 4g69 but there are multiple castings apparently. They all fit flush with my cylinders, exhaust and intake. But it looks different under the valve cover. Does that matter? Same amount of valves and all the screw holes are in the same place. Will it work?
I know nothing about casting, but my gut sense is “yes, it does make a difference”. Can’t you get the correct casting/head based on your VIN? Or are you sourcing this from a 3rd party?
It makes a difference, but you have no way to really know without performing NDI (Non Destructive Testing), Chemical and Physical Analysis, and hardness testing on each of the heads.
Alloys vary, casting processes vary, and controls over the casting processes very. You have zero control over all this, and zero way to tell without the aforementioned testing. The only control you have over any of it is… if one seems unrealistically cheap, avoid it.