Does this head look like it's in decent condition?

[Deadly BlaZe]

Just pulled the valve cover off a few days ago to change the valve cover gasket. I was just wondering, does the head look like it's in decent condition still? It's got 140k miles on it already.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[ali]

its kinda hard to tell from that picture, but from what I can see everything looks fine

 

[Ryan_Radio]

Took my valve cover off today and everything looked great too! Until, we pulled the head and realized that many of the valves were not seating all the way. Needless to say, now im putting a different head on the car tomorrow.

 

[TOONAH]

Were the camshafts out when you saw that some of the valves were not seating all the way? If so, this indicates that they are bent and must be replaced. I recommend that you check all the lifters for leak down and check all the cam followers for wear and bearing failure before re-assembly. If you have the old style 1mm orifice lifters I would replace them with the new style 3mm ones. If you have a machine shop refurbish your head be sure that they pressure test it.

 

[freeman 188]

the top looks good but how do you know if the bottom is good .pull it off like me again and take it to a machine shop .$$$

 

[Deadly BlaZe]

As far as cleanliness, how does it look? I've seen a head before with like very dark spots all over the place, not sure what that was but it couldn't be good.

 

[Ryan_Radio]

It looks to me like your top end has been getting a sufficient flow of oil. If you don't see any black chunks of nastyness in there, then your oil is getting to the top and your motor is probably not overheating and cooking your oil. The cleaner it is, the better the chance the previous owners probably changed the oil semi-regularly.
However, this does not mean you have a good head. Mine was even cleaner than that and i had some bent valves.

 

[Deadly BlaZe]

It looks to me like your top end has been getting a sufficient flow of oil. If you don't see any black chunks of nastyness in there, then your oil is getting to the top and your motor is probably not overheating and cooking your oil. The cleaner it is, the better the chance the previous owners probably changed the oil semi-regularly.
However, this does not mean you have a good head. Mine was even cleaner than that and i had some bent valves.

Speaking of bent valves..Is it possible for a motor to run almost flawlessly with atleast 1 valve that's slightly bent? Or would there be a significant effect on the motor?

 

[DSM1G90]

Is it possible for a motor to run almost flawlessly with atleast 1 valve that's slightly bent?

Nope. Bent valve is a bent valve - no matter if slightly, somewhat, or totally. (like the human heart - you get one weak valve, the heart just isn't going to perform "flawlessly".)That cylinder is not going to hold it's pressure as with the others.

If's it 'slightly' bent, it won' t close completely and if it's either the INT or the EXH, it's gonna cook it up to nothingness.

By the pict of the head you submitted, put a new rocker cover gasket on it, put the cover back on and drive the rig for another 140k miles - pertaining to if you keep the oil changed regularly.

 

[Ryan_Radio]

Surprisingly my car ran like a raped ape all the way untill I spun a rod bearing. It idled pretty well, and under boost it performed quite well! I did find out, though, that someone had taken the head off before. Only good news is that I had a spare head laying around! My valves weren't bend badly (if there is such a thing). You couldn't physically see anything....untill you closed the valves all the way. You could see just a tiny bit of light coming through the seats.

 

[Deadly BlaZe]

Thanks for the replies guys.