I know this is long but bear with me...
I'm in the middle of a head gasket job on my 1997 and I have a couple questions now that I've pulled the head. It's currently sitting in a machine shop, dipped and clean, awaiting further instruction on where to go from here.
1. Is there a maximum amount that can be shaved off of it during the decking/resurfacing process before the head is no longer usable or the compression of the engine changes? The guy at the shop said when measured with a straight edge and feeler gauge the warpage is about .015" (15 thousandths); however, that does not take into account any small low points that could possibly be somewhere on the head which would require even more resurfacing. According to him, .015" is already approaching the limit of what he would normally do, so in the case of any spots that could be lower than that, would resurfacing be a good idea still?
2. I had asked him to do a vacuum test on the valves and he said that while each valve should hold 7", there isn't a single one that holds more than 4". The quote for having them ground out came out to around $400 which is much more than I was looking to spend. Is this lack of vacuum a huge problem or is it something I can avoid fixing and just put the head back on with? If something should be done about it, would it truly require having the valves ground out by him or could it be fixed by just re-seating the valves? How would I be able to tell? Also, if it were something that can be fixed by re-seating the valves, is that something that I can do myself to avoid the huge cost of the valve job? Are there any special/uncommon tools that would be required for doing so?
3. When talking about the valves, he had mentioned that to do any kind of work to them, the valve lifters/shims and cams would need to be re-installed. When talking about this, I realized I had stupidly forgot to put the valve lifter caps into any order and had just put them all in a bag. He said to do the job, I would need to put everything back together first myself. He said figuring out which lifter goes where is an enormous PITA and would be very time consuming to do (something about measuring each lifter, installing the cams without the lifters, measuring those gaps and using trial and error to match up which lifter goes where after taking out the cams again, then re-installing everything all over). They didn't seem to me that they had any markings on them to distinguish which spot they should be put back into. Is there any better way of going about figuring out which spots they go into (considering there are 24 options for each valve)? Also, is this just a bit of tedious work that the guy at the shop is avoiding but should really included for a $400 valve job?
4. If at the end of the day, the head seems pretty messed up... If I really shouldn't bother resurfacing it because it is too warped and/or the valves absolutely must be ground out rather than simply re-seated with a drill and compound and/or because of all of the work/trouble that finding the order of the lifters and shims would entail..... rather than paying all this money and going through all of this trouble, would it be more cost/time effective to just go out and order a used or re-manufactured head?
A quote from cdan on a new head ran about $1,078 so that's out of the question. If i do get one pulled out of a parts vehicle, would that be reliable, or would I be stuck in the same situation I am already in? Finally, what is a good price for a re-manufactured head and where is a good reliable source to purchase one?
Any and all help is appreciated.
I'm in the middle of a head gasket job on my 1997 and I have a couple questions now that I've pulled the head. It's currently sitting in a machine shop, dipped and clean, awaiting further instruction on where to go from here.
1. Is there a maximum amount that can be shaved off of it during the decking/resurfacing process before the head is no longer usable or the compression of the engine changes? The guy at the shop said when measured with a straight edge and feeler gauge the warpage is about .015" (15 thousandths); however, that does not take into account any small low points that could possibly be somewhere on the head which would require even more resurfacing. According to him, .015" is already approaching the limit of what he would normally do, so in the case of any spots that could be lower than that, would resurfacing be a good idea still?
2. I had asked him to do a vacuum test on the valves and he said that while each valve should hold 7", there isn't a single one that holds more than 4". The quote for having them ground out came out to around $400 which is much more than I was looking to spend. Is this lack of vacuum a huge problem or is it something I can avoid fixing and just put the head back on with? If something should be done about it, would it truly require having the valves ground out by him or could it be fixed by just re-seating the valves? How would I be able to tell? Also, if it were something that can be fixed by re-seating the valves, is that something that I can do myself to avoid the huge cost of the valve job? Are there any special/uncommon tools that would be required for doing so?
3. When talking about the valves, he had mentioned that to do any kind of work to them, the valve lifters/shims and cams would need to be re-installed. When talking about this, I realized I had stupidly forgot to put the valve lifter caps into any order and had just put them all in a bag. He said to do the job, I would need to put everything back together first myself. He said figuring out which lifter goes where is an enormous PITA and would be very time consuming to do (something about measuring each lifter, installing the cams without the lifters, measuring those gaps and using trial and error to match up which lifter goes where after taking out the cams again, then re-installing everything all over). They didn't seem to me that they had any markings on them to distinguish which spot they should be put back into. Is there any better way of going about figuring out which spots they go into (considering there are 24 options for each valve)? Also, is this just a bit of tedious work that the guy at the shop is avoiding but should really included for a $400 valve job?
4. If at the end of the day, the head seems pretty messed up... If I really shouldn't bother resurfacing it because it is too warped and/or the valves absolutely must be ground out rather than simply re-seated with a drill and compound and/or because of all of the work/trouble that finding the order of the lifters and shims would entail..... rather than paying all this money and going through all of this trouble, would it be more cost/time effective to just go out and order a used or re-manufactured head?
A quote from cdan on a new head ran about $1,078 so that's out of the question. If i do get one pulled out of a parts vehicle, would that be reliable, or would I be stuck in the same situation I am already in? Finally, what is a good price for a re-manufactured head and where is a good reliable source to purchase one?
Any and all help is appreciated.
