Lab Results In!!

[Volarewagon78]

Well I went through and brought #8 up to the top and ran the leak test....turned the crank over again until #8 came up to the top again, ran the leak test.......turned the crank and brought #8 once again to the top and ran the leak test.....once again turned the crank and brought #8 up to the top and ran the leak test........all 4 times the air rushed out of the exhaust pipe....BAD EXHAUST VALVE!!! SO..........now the question....What should I do? Should I pull the heads and get them redone or should I buy stock replacement heads.....mind you that this is my only car and I work hellish hours through the week so I think my best option would be to just buy replacement heads and put them on over a weekend....any thoughts and opinions are appreciated?????

What a crappy day

[rumblefish360]

If you need the car everyday. The purchase of replacement heads to swap on isn't a bad idea at all. You can allways re-sell the old heads to recoup the expendature.

[Volarewagon78]

any good recommendations to where I should look for oem rebuilt heads? Autozone? Napa? Advance Auto?? Ebay? I have no idea for this situation..

[midmomopar]

I agree. Replacement heads are the way to go if you need to get back on the road quickly. As far as selling them, you might need them for cores if you're going to buy from a parts store(O'Reilly, Auto Zone, etc.). I did this swap on an old F**d truck I used to have, and it worked out quite well. I went and got the new heads, swapped them on, and took the old ones back to get my core charge back. Started Saturday morning and was done early Sunday afternoon including the usual interruptions from the wife and kids. Good luck.

[midmomopar]

As far as where to go, if you're just getting reman stock heads, I would think any of the chain stores would be safe. I go to O'Reilly, just because that's what we have, but Autozone and the others should be about the same. If you have a lot of stores to choose from, shop around for price, and warranty. Almost all the stores send them off to a machine shop to be rebuilt (some in Mexico), so it probably does not matter where you get them from, they won't be rebuilt in house. If you favorite parts store carries them at a comparable price, that's where I would go.

[Dick]

I have heard that doing a valve job on an older engine can result in various engine noises due to the increased compression. I guess it is a crap shoot, depending on the shape of everything else.

[RAMMINROUND]

Dick's correct. my past experience proved that once you bring the top end parts(incl. cam n lifters....you're in it this far right???!!!) back up to par... the bottom end is under more stress and is likely to copp out! good luck drive it easy for a while!

[Volarewagon78]

just pulled the valve cover.....casting number is *4027593*

[Volarewagon78]

called into advance auto.......they have heads there for 190$ a piece but its just the head.... no valves,springs,seals or anything


Also just thought of this.........Now this car came factory with the lean burn system intalled.....did they use different heads for the lean burn???

[dwc43]

Lean burn has nothing to do with the lean burn electronic ignition. It would be much cheaper to just take it to a machine shop and have them install a new valve and grind the others. Wont be the fastest. The Advance head wont be anygood to you without the new springs and valves too.

[Volarewagon78]

well with all my readings with the other 7 cylinders....everything seems good to me...right?? I mean cylinders 1-7 were all above 120....so like you said DW, just take it to the machinist and get a new valve installed and clean up the seat if it needs it?? any ideas on what that will run me??? $50?? or somewhere around there??

[dwc43]

Check out www.mikesspeedshop.com and see what he charges.

[pishta]

Id go to a dismantler and tell them you need a 593 head. The place I go to, Admore auto in Stanton, CA. will pull the head and offer you a 30 day warranty on it. Its only your driver, itll get you running until you can save up for those R/T heads. Im cheap.

[bigiron]

I'm with pishta... just get one from your favorite yard.. toss it on and go.. save your money to put toward other cool things... quickest and easiset on the funds....

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but about 15 years ago my brother and I needed a 76 Dart /6 running, like yesterday, it had a bad exhaust valve.. we pulled the head ran down got 1 exhaust valve... lapped it in... threw it together... reused all the gaskets, all it costed us was the valve and 1/2 gal antifreeze... and 2 1/2 hours bust butt.... that car ran like that for another 35,000 miles until my brother killed it by getting ran into in an intersection down town.... Totally not the thing to do... but when your in a hurry... you'ld be surprised what you can get away with....