b16b18

Just got my head back from port/polish and valve job. I'm a little concerned about the valve seals even though all of the chambers passed the vacuum test. If I shine a flashlight from under the head around each valve, I can see cracks of light when looking inside the chambers. If I put a few drops of water inside the chamber, the water very slowly starts to leak through after a few minutes (see pic). If I shoot compressed air around the edges of the valve, I can get the drops of water to bubble (see vid). Is this normal? I expected the valve seals to be air tight. I never performed these tests on the head prior to getting the work done.

So I lapped one of the valves with fine lapping compound and re-tested. No water leak now and the bubbling has reduced. I took the head back to the shop (which by the way deals with a lot of high profile Hondas) where I saw them vacuum test the head with my own eyes. So why do my tests fail? I realize the compressed air test is trying to force a lot more psi through. Should I lap all of the valves? The shop said the head material is hard enough that lapping wouldn't do much. They suggested to run it as is and don't think I should be concerned.

I just don't want to sacrifice any compression, it's an all motor setup, I need all the compression I can get!! Any advice would be helpful..

Pic
http://dmostudio.com/Temp/waterleak.jpg

Video
http://dmostudio.com/Temp/airwatertest.mpg