Head fell off the workbench am I screwed???

Import_sounds-of-mid-GA · Tue Jun 13, 2006 1:46 pm

Head fell off the workbench am I screwed???

dang, shoulda kept it on your neck... im sure the doc can help tho.[/quote]

SLOroadster · Post by **SLOroadster** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 2:25 pm

Bill that Pic is perfect. Ok If you look at the two heads, you will find that the stock one has much more of a dish to the area above the piston. The cut head just has the inset part of the combustion chambers left. There is quite a bit of material missing. [http://madmadscientist.com/cyl_head/setup.jpg
]

Bills head looks good. [http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_im ... 8_full.jpg]

I guess in the long run, you were screwed before the head fell off the workbench. If I were you, I'd be begging Bill for his head.

Will

oilleak · Post by **oilleak** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 2:47 pm

SLOroadster wrote:I guess in the long run, you were screwed before the head fell off the workbench. Will

Damn Will. As much as your car's been broken I'd expect a LITTLE bit of empathy...

DELETED · Post by **DELETED** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 2:57 pm

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SLOroadster · Post by **SLOroadster** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 4:40 pm

I feel his pain, but someone else screwed that up. It had issues before it fell. Thats the problem with a message board, you cant see expressions. If he wants to go to Shasta, times ticking. I'm almost in the same boat, I've got a bad valve seat, and I'm waiting for the new parts to come in. The head is done as far as the parts I have. I'm waiting on rocker arms and a new cam, however I also need to redo the exhaust to better suit the new cam. I have a boat load of work to do before I run up to Thunderhill and Shasta, only I have one more week than he does.

Ive gotten many things that I thought were good only to be told they wern't. Heck if I had a third head lying around, I'd be offering it up. The one that I'm having rebuilt ate something hard and chewed up 2 of the combusion chambers, but it was salvagable with some $$$$.

It would have really sucked had he spent a ton of $ only to find that the head was a goner and the valves and pistons attacked each other due to the timing being off with 4 miles of slack in the upper chain, and it would have killed the cam and rockers as well. In a strange way, it was good that it fell off the workbench.

Will

oilleak · Post by **oilleak** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 4:58 pm

I was just kidding... Hence the smiley

dneuman · Post by **dneuman** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 11:43 pm

Will,
Yep I got kinda screwed with the head. I sucked up a screw and took the head to an expert and he redid it even though it had already been cut waay to many times. So what I have is a compeletly redone head thats useless unless I can find at least a .08" thick spacer. I paid the fricken money to have the head redone not knowing any of this and trusting in the expert. So now I am trying to salvage the situation the best I can. I can no way afford a new head so I gotta try to make due.
The car has not run for so long that I am afraid that if I don't get it going soon I'll be one of those guys that falls out of love with it and sells it for peanuts- Hey Alvin, its got a 4.11LSD

67 1/2 1600 · Post by **67 1/2 1600** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:14 am

I got a pack of peanuts with your name in it Daniel!!

DELETED · Post by **DELETED** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:31 am

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67 1/2 1600 · Post by **67 1/2 1600** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:36 am

Alvin is right. There was a U20 head on ebay a few days ago. Im sure someone on the list is willing to part with one. Heck if you are really interested I know a guy with a U20 that the block is frozen and the head is good. Let me know I can find out for you. Dont want to see another unfinished project for sale.

SLOroadster · Post by **SLOroadster** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 9:27 am

Now that I think of it, check craigslist, I thought I saw a frozen U20 listed in the autoparts listing. I think it was in Santa Cruz. I know about carbs sucking studs/nuts in, the first roadster I road in had that happen to it. It turned out to be a lucky thing, the engine was about to granade due to poor assembly by a previous owner. You might give Mike Young a call, he might have one. As for the other head, I'd go talk to the guy who did the work and see if he will work something out with you. He should know better than to completly remove most of the combustion chamber.

Will

Post by **dbrick** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:15 pm

If it's a short time solution, what about stacking two gaskets with head studs and 80 lbs torque and a retorque before 1st long trip?

SLOroadster · Post by **SLOroadster** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 9:31 am

Dave,
Thats a great idea, but the rocker arm geometry could be all messed up. at $50 each, rocker arms arn't something I'd want to kill, and cams are getting out of control.

Will

spyder · Post by **spyder** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:34 am

Happily driving down the road and I stopped at a stop and rob. Got back in the car, started it and had this heart stopping knock in it. I turned out to be a valve seat slipped out of the head and wedged at an angle. I sent the head to Cali to one of our vendors who said it will be better than new when he is done. About $500 later it looks fab but I store it because the car now has a head I pulled from a running engine I picked up as a spare. This head was so shaved that it measured around 4 inches thick. The lower exhaust studs were almost touching the surface. I figure this head is ripe for modding since I have my good one on the shelf and it was working when I removed it. So I ported the hell out of it and massaged the combustion chamber to smooth off any sharp edges. With a big cam and carbs and a tight chain and head shims this thing was scary fast. It had one issue, one of the intake valves wasn't sealing all the way so sometimes the car would backfire when I nailed it. Turns out in my paranoic response to loose valve seats I peened them too much and distorted the roundness. Moral? I would suspect you can use the head if you set it up carefully!

dneuman · Post by **dneuman** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:52 pm

Dave, Will; Why would running two headgaskets be a bad idea?
I just picked up a .06" steel spacer from Mike Young. If I use it with a headgasket on the top and bottom (don't know how I'm going to seal that.... I would be in my target CR range. The cam geometry would be restored as the head would be just slightly 'thicker' than stock.