Is it ok to take a wire wheel to your valves and combustion chamber or will I need to recut the seats?

Actually, I already cleaned the valves with a fine wire cup brush. They turned out good and I can't see any scratches on the metal.

But, can I apply the same reasoning to the combustion chamber? I will use a very fine wire cup brush on a dremel. Will this mess up the seats?

 

The seats and valves should be a lot harder than most wire wheels. You may want to do a light hand lap on the valves before putting it back together. Watch out for grinding away at the aluminum head around the seats.

 

What does lapping the valves entail exactly? It's mentioned in the helms, but no instructions given. I've also seen a lapping tool but I have no idea what the process is.

Thanks

 

Basically, remove the keepers, retainers, and springs. Use a bit of lapping compound, available in auto parts store for a few $, between the valve head and seat. Put the tool, just a suction cup on a stick, on the valve head and spin it some while pressing the valve against the seat. It's a very light grinding process. Not as good as a full valve job so it can only be used if everything is in good shape. It helps clean up the sealing faces. Plus you can feel and see any mismatch. If the valves are bent a little or the seat is not in good shape, you will feel and see it in the pattern in the compound.

Most modern valves and seats show very little wear, so it is really just a touchup. If it needs more than that to work, a real valve job is really needed. I've mostly used it on older motors, but they have run well and shown good compression, so why not.

 

Cool, thanks for the info. One less problem for me to worry about.