Longgg reply, sorry!

Posted by ScottyHOMEy on May 29, 2008 at 19:08:17 from (70.105.241.102):

In Reply to: engine overhauling posted by charley123 on May 29, 2008 at 08:19:01:

A lot depends on three factors. How ambitious you are, what kind of shape your head is in, and how much you're willing or able (okay make that four factors) to spend.

Valve removal is not a big deal. A valve spring compressor is basically a big C-clamp. It's wide enough to bridge the head so that one side of the clamp fits over the round (inside-the-head) end of the valve. The other side of the clamp has a fork that fits over the cup that holds the top of the spring. The tool has a mechanism for pressing the cup down onto the valve stem so that you can remove the wedges that hold the cup in place. When the wedges are out and you take the pressure off the tool, the valve is free to slide out of the guide. A smart fellow will have put numbers on the faces of his valves, like 1E and 1I, 2I and 2E (I for intake, E for exhaust) or number them numerically from front to back, and put the springs, cups and keepers from each one in separate envelopes or whatever numbered the same way.

If you want the experience and choose to do it that way, the head should still be taken to a shop for evaluation. (And take your valves, springs, etc. with you.) They can magnaflux it to check for cracks and can plane it if it needs it. There's also something to be said for their experience in evaluating the condition of the valve seats. If the seats are bad enough to need machining, the valves will probably also need grinding. This will involve equipment that it wouldn't be worth your while to acquire for a hobby piece. But a good shop will also tell you if you're head is in relatively good shape and that all the valves need is lapping, and that's an easy and actually quite rewarding project you could do yourself for very little expense.

So one point is that the value of their experience in evaluating the condition of your head will guide how much you want to do yourself, BUT you won't know what that value is until they have a look at it.

That and the cost of the tools you'd need to measure up things like valve stem and guide wear. A good micrometer and a set of small-hole gauges will set you back a good bit more than what they'll charge you for what is a routine part of what they do working on engine heads.

I've been down both roads. I had one head that had been full of water. The shop got that job -- baked it, shot blasted, magnafluxed, planed, milled for new valve seats, and new valves, guides and springs. On another (pet) project, things were relatively clean and I had the tools to determne that the valves, guides and springs were okay, but I still took the head in for magnafluxing and truing.

The bigger point is that these old motors aren't hard to work on. A good set of manuals, a basic set of tools and a torque wrench, and there isn't too much you can't do yourself.

Oh yes, and don't forget the advice. Your thread kind of got hijacked, but there are plenty of folks here willin' to help.

Let us know how you're makin' out and if we can help.

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