That's true. But I'm not going to be rebuilding the engine right now. I'll talk to my engine guy about it and see what he thinks. If it's pointless to do anything to the engine, then so be it. I'll keep going until it gives out or I find the money to rebuild it.
Edelbrock Performer grind is a good choice in a stock engine. Summit has a house brand with the same specs. 204/214 w/ .472 lift (I think). Always get new lifters and follow break in instructions, and get a new timing chain. Try a dual row. That cam works with stock valve springs and will build better torque since it's a dual pattern. Hope this helps.
How is your compression? How does it run? What do the plugs look like? What is your oil consumption? If the rotating assembly is ok, a little cam will be fun. Just don't over rev it.
The engine runs perfectly. It's my daily driver. The oil consumption is a little bad because the seals in the heads are falling apart. The plugs were replaced a couple months ago and the compression was fine when I checked it a couple years ago. But nothing has changed since then.
I would definitely have the head worked on. If the engine is a true virgin it's going to need harden valve seats. The original engines were built to run on leaded gasoline.
People I've talked to have said that if the valve seats are fine right now, as in they are sealing and there is no excessive wear, there isn't any point in putting the hardened seats in. The gas here isn't very good, so I'm not sure what kind of condition they are in.
It's your car brother, but if the heads are coming out its a good idea to swap those out specially living in California. Have you ran a compression & leak down test? You may already have a problem your not aware of. If your not ready to spend the money right now you could just change the valve seals without removing the heads and avoid opening that can of worms.
You'll notice seat recession in the exhaust valve seats if you drive it a lot. I did and one valve stopped sealing eventually I bought a used unopened '68 302 to put in when I did the V8 conversion and had little $$. It ran well for awhile. If you plan on keeping the car, it's worth at least considering having hardened exh seats put in. I did in my next engine, a built '66 with '66 heads. My current engine just keeps going...
Anything you do to freshen up the heads more than new valve stem seals will only serve to magnify the wear already existing on the bottom end of the motor. Your rings and cylinder bore undoubtedly has moderate to heavy wear, and better sealing valves will only create more blow-by as an example. Any camshaft you install without further freshening up the motor will be marginal at best. Seems that the best road to follow, here, is to leave the setup alone for now and plan on a more comprehensive engine build program later when your ship comes in.
Best,
Al
I would definitely have the head worked on. If the engine is a true virgin it's going to need harden valve seats. The original engines were built to run on leaded gasoline.
Not so fast.
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People I've talked to have said that if the valve seats are fine right now, as in they are sealing and there is no excessive wear, there isn't any point in putting the hardened seats in. The gas here isn't very good, so I'm not sure what kind of condition they are in.
Exactly. The difference between hardened and plain is you get maybe 125,000 instead of 150,000 miles.
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Most of us "old timers" can remember trading in when the mileage exceeded 80k because back then at 80k the motors were usually pretty tired. Not only was the technology a bit lacking, but at highway speeds the motors were cranking over double the rpms that modern engines do today and combustion byproducts were highly corrosive. Your engine may "run" okay but it's most likely closer in wear to a modern engine with 150k.
Except, of course, if those old-timers were told by even older timers to use STP. Then the engine is still strong and smoke-free, using very little oil, even at 200,000 miles. Like mine.
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Amateur restorer. (Well, once in a while I have been paid for it)
So it would be worth my time to work on the heads?
Exhaust port-matching? Absolutely. Before you take them off, though, do a wet/dry compression test. Then you'll know if the valves aren't seating well.
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Amateur restorer. (Well, once in a while I have been paid for it)
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