Went into my local machine shop about vavle job....

91BLOWNSC

Registered User
Well, for the few of you that have read my post, I am redoing the headgaskets on my car. Anyways I went and dropped off my heads to a local (and trusted) machine shop. Well there going to resurface my heads, and then i proceeded to tell them do perform the valve job on it. And they told me that they wouldn't recommend it for me because they have seen only about 1 in every 100 heads people bring in need a vavle job. They said they would flow test it for me to be on the safe side and IF something appears not to be right they will go ahead and perform the valve job. I pretty much trust them just wanted to get some feedback as to what others think. Should I vavle job be performed anyways? They said my heads looked in GREAT shape (I have 125k on my car). Just need some opinions. Thanks.
 
wow, that the weirdest thing, if you have low mileage and no pitting on the exhaust valves, i guess just a clean up would work
 
91BLOWNSC said:
They said my heads looked in GREAT shape (I have 125k on my car). Just need some opinions.

Did they disassemble your heads? Because if they haven't they
can't tell if they are in good shape or not. And you don't
determine valve job worthiness by flowing heads, its all in visual
inspection and measuring (the middle angle gets wide and the
guides get sloppy)
 
AsSCLoWn ?

Just gotta ask,
What's up with your picture? I don't get it.
A midget leaning on a slammed Benz with a Nasa helmet guy pasted over the head. (?!) I don't even want to guess as to what your trying to express. So maybe you could explain.

Thanks
 
im trying to express thats Benzs are out of this world obviously:rolleyes:, and eventhough the air-bags on his car went flat he still has enough courage to stand by his ride, and for that I salute him!!!!!!!!. Why cant we be more like that guy, look at his pride damn it!!
 
valve job

I cant in my wildest wierd nightmare having a good machine shop not recomending a valve job on a 125000 mile motor. I would have to ask myself how good he is. To my knowledge a visual inspection or a flow check? I would pick up my heads and go somewhere else it all sounds a little strange to me and I know strange cause Iam. Tim:eek:
 
well..

Supposidley the guy said he has seen a TON of those heads in his shop, and has done a ton of the valve jobs, and only 1 in a 100 really actaully needed it after he got it all apart. He said hes more than happy to do it, but its probably not worth it. Do you think hes right? I thought about calling at 8 in the morning tomorrow and telling him to do it anyways.
 
they're usually decent, I doubt you're losing massive power from the slight missmatches, since they have hardened seats and the valves are pretty tough, I wouldnt lose sleep over it. Im sure when someone changes the valve seals they will have a quick look at them anyways. I bet they arent perfect but far from being in a real need of a grind due to loss in combustion chamber presure
 
hmm..

Well I did lose sleep over it LOL. I did tell them to do it. Because of a few reasons. One, I wasn't sure how long I was going to keep the car so I didn't want it to start going downhill becuase chances are, I will never have the car apart again. Second, I wanted the vavle seals replaced. They wouldn't have been replaced if I hadn't had him do this even thought hey come with the kit. And third, for peace of mind of me. I just wanted to know everything was absolutley perfect. So hope that justifies 85 bucks.
 
springs

I would at least have the valve springs looked at ..we use 220 lbs
springs ..somewhere I read @ 10 pounds of boost = 75 pounds of spring pressure on the intake valve when there closed ...and since it's apart ..new seals and springs may save you down the road ..125,000 miles is getting up there on stock parts
 
Last edited:
Heads

Hey I just did my heads,I had them checked (which of course you always want to do)resurfaced because they had to be and I also had the valves done because it is NEVER a bad idea.I did it under excellent advice from an experienced engine builder.Also when they do the valves the valve seals can be replaced.It's a little expense when the heads are already off,then you won't wish you did later down the road.Good luck.
 
If you want your valve seals changed and a valve job and haven't had it done yet, drop the heads off at my house, I'll do your valve job and stem seals, and I'll have Polarek Motorsports mill your heads. I'll charge you $75 bucks.
 
SC valve job @ 125k miles

Think you made the right decisions; I've never seen a car with 100K miles that didn;t need as a minimum new valve guide seals, and, once you bight that bullet, you have to check valve stem clearances, etc. aluminum heads often need surfacing to meet factory specs for flatness.

I am curious, I've heard Ford often uses "use only once head bolts", does this apply to the SC V6 heads? I'm collecting data for my first encounter with my engine this spring.

, do you have new head bolts in your re-assembly hardware kit?

What else are you doing with this tear down? Did you pull the engine out of the car?
 
Head Bolts

Most people use "Torque to yield" head bolts, one time and done, well atleast I wouldn't use them again.
 
the gaskets can be changed with the engine in the car. DO NOT use the old head bolts. Fel-pro sells a complete head gasket set and a bolt set (you need 2 sets of bolts, one set per head) and you can get it from Auto Zone. The new bolts have to be stretched. You start them off at certain torque, then apply more, then more, then more, then loosen them a bit, then re-tighten them. If you guys really want your SC's to perform, put in a more aggressively ground camshaft and have bigger valves put into your head, get the heads ported and polished, port match everything, and port out the exhaust manifolds. Your car will fell MUCH quicker.
 
Along that line

I was going to replace my heads with the Apten ported heads when I did my rebuild..Along with the other 20 grand worth of stuff...but should as far as torqueing the new bolts Scott would the same principles apply???
Rick in FL :cool:
 
do not re use the head bolts. New one's should come in the Head Gasket Set , or go with ARP bolts. I think you can re-use the ARP bolts but i'm not sure (check with ARP) but definitely do not re-use the stock ones. THey are 'torque-to-yeild' bolts and will only give the correct torque one time, since the bolts actually stretch a little. By the way it's not just Ford that does this.
 
Back
Top