Cylender Head

Josh · backyard mechanic Joined: 04 Oct 2001 Posts: 602

I Just took the head off my gemini (first time and I have had the car for about 1 1/2 years) AND! I took it off thinking i had a burnt out valve. So anyway i took the head off and every thing looks fucking fantastic. Bores are like new, the valve guides are like you wouldnt belive, They look like thay have just been put in! ANYWAY Where do I go from here? I bought the gasket kit today and i got all the valve guide seals and shit. I had a quick look at how much has been taken off the head and it looks pretty stock. Has HUGE valves but. How much thou should i get taken off the head? Should i get the head steam cleaned ect??? How much will a 3 angle valve re-grind cost and is it worth it?

Thanks heaps

Josh

Fastgem · tinkerer Joined: 04 Oct 2001 Posts: 166

Measure how much clearance you have between the valves and pistons with the bluetac method described in the previous posts. When you bolt the head on to do it make sure you use the old head gasket as it has already been crushed. Once you find out how much space you have between the pistons and valves then have a little bit less than that shaved off.
Having the head ported will depend on how much you want to spend. Can probably have the ports cleaned up from about $80, a bit of a port from $150 and anywhere up to $1000+ depends on how much you want to spend and what you want to get out of it. Call a few performance places, hammer them with questions, find out if they have had much experience with gems and then go to the one that sounds like they know what they are talking about.