I am in the process of building a block and I just have the head sitting in my garage. I was thinking about doing some maintenance.....something fairly simple, cost-effective, and beneficial. Any suggestions?

Someone told me that I would change out my valve seals? Maybe get a valve job. What does that consist of?

 

You can change your valve seals, but I would take it to a head shop so they can check the clearances on your valve guides. Then replace what ever guides are out of spec. As for a valve job, they usually just re-cut your valves and your valve seats so that they seat perfectly against each other.

 

So would I have to strip the head so that the machine shop could check it? If not, what would I take out or leave?

 

When I took my head to the shop, I just removed all the sensors off of the head and the cams. They did the rest.

 

About how much could I expect to pay?

 

So the seals are a definite replace and the guides and a maybe replace?

 

well, the seals are very easy to replace; as far as the valve guides, i would only let a reputable shop do that.
Valve guides is not something you change for the hell of it, they need to have lots of mileage or something gone wrong in order for them to be messed up.

 

Hey guys! I have a 96 GSR swap in my 96 civic ex coupe. I’m seeing smoke after warming up and deccelling in gear hard. I thought it was valve stem seals so I replaced them. Turns out it’s not the stem seals because it’s still smoking during these times. So I got a vacuum test gauge and it is at healthy vacuum but I notice the needle vibrating. I believe this means it is valve guide time??? Also I have 205 205 150 205 compression.... how much would machine shop charge for a valve guide replacement on b18c1 normally? Thanks

 

I'm just going to point out that the 150 psi compression compared to the other cylinders is a big issue. So that should be where you're looking for the problem. And by vacuum test, do you mean leakd test? With a cylinder 50psi off of the others, you should definitely yeild some results with a leak down test.

 

Thank you for your reply. So dry my low cylinder tested at 130 and after pouring a tablespoon of oil in , it tested consistent at 155ish. That was the only test I did before tear down. I have purchased a complete standard size re-ring kit. My cylinders don’t look damaged from what I can see, but I did find a burnt looking valve in cylinder 2 (low compression cylinder). I water tested the head and sure enough that valve dripped water past the seat after a minute consistently. Any advice? I am planning on cleaning, and lapping the valve hoping to fix the issue because it does not appear bent or to have a hole in it. And while I have engine apart I am repacking crank bearings, rod bearings, and piston rings to make sure it’s not the bottom end. Thanks 🙏🏻 Here are pics of cyl 2 and the head with the valve that’s not sealing. There is also a weird white buildup on my valves.