I have to get my seats recut because it doesn't look like they are going to seal. The guy quoted me $150 for a normal recut & $250 for a five-angle job. I've never priced anything like this before so I have no idea what dollar range I'm looking at for the valve job, and the guides don't seem to be in too bad of shape, but I wouldn't know it unless they were real bad.

He also told me that with the fact that it's got 90k miles, with 70 of those being hard miles, I'll probably need new exhaust guides. Can anyone agree or disagree with that?

Any input on either part would be appreciated.

 

if the head is off i would say replace them now, so you dont have to do it later

 

Find another shop. You can't tell if the guides are bad until you take the head apart. Also I challenge any machinist to prove that they can make 5 good cuts of progressive angles on the valve seat and valve. Do a normal grind if nothing else.
Here's a trick, place cyl head upside down and level (do this outside away from any flame) and fill each combustion chamber with gasoline. See if the gas leaks out of the intake or exh ports. If it holds the fluid, valve job is fine.

 

Okay so you're saying don't add any cuts at all & just redo the stock configuration, or just don't go up to five? Is $150 a good price for a normal grind?

I did what you described with water after I "cleaned-up" the chambers a bit & the valves leaked. That's why I'm looking into getting this done. One thing though, I didn't put the springs & **** back on - I just put the valves in, spun them a bit & went with the water from there. Now that I think about it, I'm guessing that I should completely install the valves before I do the water test?

Thanks for the help man.

Oh yeah, and while I'm at it, what's a good amount to mill the head? This is for a daily driver. I want to mill as much as possible, without running into clearance, or reliability issues.


[Modified by 94gsr, 9:48 AM 8/14/2002]

 

*Bump*

 

FYI, doesnt matter how many "angles" your valve job has, there will only be one seat on the valve, and thats 45 degrees.

The valve seat on the other hand has 3 angles from the factory. 45 in the center (the actual seat) 60 on top, and 30 on the bottom roughly. 3 angles doesn't mean 3 seats per valve.

And 5 angles doesnt mean 5 seats per valve. The valve seat is cut at 5 angles vs the stock 3, and the valves always have one "cut" angle on them and is typically always 45.

Some crap about heat disperssion or something.

HTH.

 

DONT Mill your head, just get a single layer head gasket. If you really want higher compression, get new pistons.

 

If how I worded my Q made it sound like I didn't know the difference between seats and angle, I must apologize. I know the difference between the two & was concentrating on the angles involved - my bad.

Why do you advise against milling the head? This is a tried and true method of upping compression. As long as one has adjustable cam gears to be able to play with the cam timing, and of course, knows how much of a timing change is caused by milling the head however much, I don't see why you would say this is a bad idea?

 

im not saying it is a bad idea. It's biggest draw back is that it is irriversable.

I would think that milling the head is a last resort if it is compression you are after. You can get the same effect from a thinner headgasket. And it is reversable.

As far as the valve job issue, my reply was directed at the poster who suggested, with his challange to a machinist to cut 5 angles on the seat and the valve and have them match.

 

Okay, that makes more sense. I was planning on going to just one layer on the head gasket, but I figured while I had the head at the machine shop, I might as well get it milled. And believe me, I'd LOVE to get higher compressions pistons - but I'm broke. I'm still not sure how I'm going to pay for the new rod that I need and the regrind...

Thanks for the replies.

 

Yeah, TonyX (any relation to MalcomX?) is correct. Don't mill that head unless it is warped as it takes away most of the usefull life of the head. If u overheat it after you milled it, no room to mill it again. U got junk.
In order to do your water test correctly, the springs have to be installed. If u are dollar challenged, try some lapping compound on the valves and seats and you might be good to go without spending for the valve job.

 

BTW, be sure to replace the valve seals