Resolved Damaged valve spring pad

[Blinkyblinx9]

So, I got my head back from the shop and one of the spring pads is bent which is interfering with seat fitment. How borked is this?

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[1999RSfwd]

It looks like the valve guide is broken to me.

 

[Blinkyblinx9]

The guide is new and you can't really see it in the picture. Just the seal and the pad? I don't even know what to call the part that is bent but it's the part that the guide seats in. The Machinist must have slipped while installing the guide. I just don't know if that's fixable.

 

[Mello]

Take it back to the machinist and show them your problem.

 

[Blinkyblinx9]

There is a lot more wrong with it now that I poke around. Some of the guides are installed WAY too deep and I'm fairly sure they didn't do a proper valve job like they said because some of those seats are way too wide.

 

[1999RSfwd]

I see now. It does look like the machine shop slipped and nicked that area. That little lip is part of the head. You maybe could try and file down that portion that is sticking out. Since it's aluminum it should be soft and easy to do.
Or just take it back to your machine shop

 

[Blinkyblinx9]

After looking it over there is so much more wrong with it. The guides are all seated too deep with one being .133 out of spec and every one of the exhaust valve seates are .09ish wide on the outside edge and .5ish on the inside edge. I provided a spec sheet which the machinest says he never saw even though they handed it back to me when I picked up my head. I took it back and expressed my concerns of which he said it would investigate over the phone but at what point should I actually be worried about this?

 

[TerminalTalon]

When you found it. I wouldn’t trust anything they did if that’s what they let out of the door.

 

[Blinkyblinx9]

Yeah, the more I think about the less it feels right. I'm gonna see what he comes up with as a solution. I don't understand how every exhaust valve could be off by that much and how they couldn't have noticed prior to lapping them in and why they didn't do a 3 angle after replacing the guides. It kinda feels like they were trying to rush it out and thought I was too dumb to question their work or know what measurements to take. What's a person's recourse with something like this if their outcome is "well, nothing we can do"?

 

[TerminalTalon]

Personally if they messed the head up beyond service, the price of a good core and all of your money back for services.

 

[donniekak]

It looks like the valve guide is broken to me.

They broke the raised part of the head that locates the valve spring seat when they used an air hammer on the guide.

 

[Blinkyblinx9]

I got the head back again today so it's update time. The guide install depth seems to be resolved. A few are iffy but nothing is out of spec. The spring seat pad is now usable and their cleanup of that looks decent enough.

I am still seeing the issue with the valve seat contact area being far too wide and uneven. They are uneven fairly consistently across all of the valves with the outside being thicker than the inside.

The machinest doesn't seem to think that new seats and a recut would help but then again he did initially overdrive every guide with an air hammer spec sheet in hand, mess up a spring seat pad, and expect a simple lap in after new valves and guides to be sufficient.

So yeah, I'm at a loss for words here and I really don't know what to do about it. I have no idea what goes into machine work but it kinda feels like he took on a job he wasn't equipped to complete.

 

[donniekak]

You absolutely cannot install new guides without cutting the seats.

 

[Blinkyblinx9]

Seems like it's only the exhaust valves this time. Intakes all look good. Second time I have given it to them. At least the guides are installed at the appropriate depth and they fixed the seat pad they buggered up.

Is this the sort of thing I should insist they fix or do I cut my losses and take it elsewhere? It's so messed up at this point that it may need new seats.

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[97egl]

I would cut your losses at this place and try to find somewhere better. If they can't install guides properly, I seriously doubt they have a clue what they are doing when it comes to seats.

I feel your pain I have had several issues with local machine shops. 1 place bored a block for me without ever taking the pistons out of the box and 2 of them wouldn't even go in the cylinders. Another place decked a block at such a bad angle I ended up scrapping the block. Then the shop that calls themselves a cylinder head shop gave my head back twice with the seats cut piss poorly resulting in not even enough compression to start the engine. I ended up buying a Bridgeport and about 1000 bucks in cutters so I can just do machine work myself. It takes forever to set up since it's not the "proper" machine for the job, but better than paying some jackass to do it wrong. If I can't do it myself I just buy a used part.

 

[Blinkyblinx9]

Yeah, I dropped it off at another place (far more reputable) for a second opinion and a quote on cutting and possibly dropping in some new seats if needed. Boss called within a couple hours with a quote of a benny square to cut and lap the exhaust and before close it was finished. His head guy had time between jobs and mine as a quick fix. Picked it up this morning and it looks good. Google reviews of the place I initially went to were not good and I hadn't bothered to read them until yesterday. Feels like I got lucky and that it could have been much worse.

 

[danl]

Leave a google review for both places so locals know who should get their business and who should not!