Rebuilding my Head

[RED97TSI]

ok, my car is smoking at start up and at stoplights. So I think I have a bad Valve steam seal. So I am going to rebuild my head. What is a good book to go by and is there anything I should watch out for. Ohhh And any tricks to make this easier? My spending limit is $650. Should I send it off somewhere to have rebuilt for me?

 

[bojanglesracing]

I did mine with a haynes manual. I had no problems i would send the head out to a shop to have the valves redone. I had mine done for 200 bucks . Then just get stud and put the head back on.

 

[OnMyWayTo12Secs]

If you need help with the head let me know, I can help you reassemble it, and if you want, i know a great machine shop to do the work. Im in Newark so thats only about 40 minutes away, let me know

Chris

 

[solo92s10]

not sure if your looking to buy a new head but i saw on classifieds yesterday someone had a bjs head for cheap.

 

[GTM]

ok, my car is smoking at start up and at stoplights. So I think I have a bad Valve steam seal. So I am going to rebuild my head. What is a good book to go by and is there anything I should watch out for. Ohhh And any tricks to make this easier? My spending limit is $650. Should I send it off somewhere to have rebuilt for me?

That's a bucket of $$$ to do valve guide seals. You should do a compression check before you pull it down, if you don't have a compression gauge take some of that money and buy one. Other than normal hand tools, a good test light and a DVDM are good investments. A good source is Harborfreight.com who has free shipping on orders over $50 and their quality is not bad. A set of 3/8" drive universal/swivel sockets make pulling manifold bolts almost a pleasure. A set of 3/8" drive deep well sockets will get some use as well.

The factory manual would be most desirable, Haynes would be second choice. Look at my $5 valve spring compressor in the Tech Guide/Intake & Exhaust/ which will make life easier. Vfaq.com has a couple of other valve spring compressors but a lot more money and time to make.

Get a shoe box, make an arrow at one end, make 2 rows of 8 holes with a Phillips screwdriver and set your valves in order. Examine the valves and seats, you may just be able to lap them rather than a full grind. Check the cylinders for wear, scratches and galling. I prefer a thick blade putty spatuly for a gasket scraper which I keep sharp on a whetstone. Don't get any nicks in by running into studs for it will gouge out aluminum when scraping the head faces. Soft wire cup brush for your drill will clean piston tops and combustion chambers. If you don't have a bench grinder with wire brush you can get a stiff brush for cleaning the valves, you are looking to take deposits off not metal and do not wire brush the stems. You can use the cup brush carefully on the headgasket face. You will need to check the head for warpage with a straight edge.

Any questions, let us know when you get those compression readings.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[RED97TSI]

That is a lot of good info. Thanks guys! Chris I will be giving you a call soon. I will be reposting with compression readings.

 

[forsakendreams]

i had Genuine Machine Shop do my head....replaced allvalve seal and changed two of the burnt valves...resurfaced the rest, cleaned and dipped.....211$