The V8 Owners Forum -

I've bought some cheap heads (£15) off ebay to learn how to rebuild etc. do I need any specific tools to disassemble and reassemble them. any advice about taking apart and rebuilding would be great too.


Ross

Hi
About the most usefull piece of kit is a press for getting the guides out and in again (don't bash them out witha hammer, odds on you will crack the port roof) also esential for fitting seats. If you are porting the heads a nice chunky pillar drill is handy for opening the throat area consistantly across all the ports. A set of seat cutters for hardened seats. Really it depends on what you are aiming to achieve.
Best regards
Mike

And if you're not porting, just some wire brush type things to clean it all up, and a scraper.

Chris.

How would you use the pillar drill Mike?

Hi Tom
to open out the throats with the seats out you use a cutter mounted in a mandral with one end in the chuck of the pillar drill, the other end in the guide so it is centred and nice and solid, the profile of the throat is ground into the cutter. When you have put the seats back in you can open the seats out using a grinding attachment again with the guide centering the mandral the grinder is attached to and the pillar drill driving the grinder attachment. Finally seat cutting attachments for hardened seats work the same way with a shaped stone driven from a chuck. It can be done with a normat electric drill but is much more accurate with a pliiar drill.
Best regards
Mike

Gotcha

Hi mike

I'd just like to be able to take the heads apart, clean them up and refit them. They are not going to go on my engine just wanted to be able to rebuild a head.

Ross

kiwicar wrote:Hi
About the most usefull piece of kit is a press for getting the guides out and in again (don't bash them out witha hammer, odds on you will crack the port roof) also esential for fitting seats. If you are porting the heads a nice chunky pillar drill is handy for opening the throat area consistantly across all the ports. A set of seat cutters for hardened seats. Really it depends on what you are aiming to achieve.
Best regards
Mike

The only things you "take apart" would be lifting the rockers off which just have 5 bolts per head, and taking the valve asemblies out, for which you need a valve spring compressor. Apart from that they are just big funny shaped lumps

Try some oven cleaner to clean them up, works pretty well.

Ross,

In that case all you need is a decent valve spring compressor, I prefer the screw type with length adjustment, then it will fit almost any head.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/searc ... any/page/1

Kevin

topcatproduction wrote:The only things you "take apart" would be lifting the rockers off which just have 5 bolts per head, and taking the valve asemblies out, for which you need a valve spring compressor. Apart from that they are just big funny shaped lumps

Try some oven cleaner to clean them up, works pretty well.

still never done it before. once I've cleaned them up and got some money I'll have a go at porting them for a laugh

Personally I like this type http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DRAPER-UNIVERSAL- ... 4aa0815315
or even simpler ones that use the rocker shaft as the fulcrum, quick precise and after 16 you dont feel as if you have unscrewed your wrist .
Mike

kiwicar wrote:..quick precise and after 16 you dont feel as if you have unscrewed your wrist .
Mike

Am I missing something? you only need to adjust the screw to fit the heads you are working on, all 16 are just a case of clamping and unclamping I find.

Ah
you mean one of these
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/200mm-8-Valve-Spr ... 20b02a48c8
not one of these
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/valve-spring-comp ... 5636dceecd

I still prefere the bar and hook type
Mike