Technical So the Machine Shop Messed up my Cylinder Head....

So the machine shop messed up my cylinder head. I had taken it in to have one valve seat installed, as it had bad bad corrosion on one seat. Rest of the seats were good after lightly hitting them with my souix seat grinder.

Unfortunately, the shop cut way too deep to install the replacement valve seat. Its hard to tell from pictures, but the seat probably sets 1/8" to 3/16" LOW compared to all the other holes.

At this point, any reasonable communication or resolution from the shop is not going to happen, and legal action just is not worth it. I live in a rural area of Michigan and the only other shop within 70 miles doesn't want to get involved with it.

My question is, is there some solution to save the head and get the valve sitting in proper height? I am not thrilled with having to grind down the end of the valve stem and put a bunch of shims under the spring.

Thoughts?

 

Replace the head? What engine?

 

What's the head off of?
You might see if a seat mfg. will make one or modify one from inventory.
Here is one.
https://goodson.com

Google search.
https://www.google.com/search?q=cus...-8vaAhVI4oMKHT_sBMsQ_AUIEigC&biw=1280&bih=752

Here is a good tech article on valve seats.
http://www.aa1car.com/library/ar993.htm

 

i am no expert head guy, but i know seats come in many,many sizes. you can probably get some taller seat to get back to your desired height

 

Its a vintage 30's OHV high compression conversion head....so not the most replaceable....

 

Find a bigger seat and have it machined to fit your application

 

My buddy did it all the time on messed up Harley heads

 

Yup, You need a good machinist, who knows the catalogs, and yes I said catalogs.

My guy can fix this, but you'd have to ship it.

 

How about a good machine shop hereabouts? (Merced/Atwater area?) LOL Ha, ha, ha, ha...
Truly laughable. Absolutely sad...

 

Yeah. This is really basic stuff. If that guy cannot get that job right, he cannot be trusted with ANYTHING!

 

Are you willing to drive to Hanford Machine? Might be worth the trip.

 

A question comes to mind. What is the valve height on that one valve with the new seat (even though the new seat is sunk) as compared to the other's?

 

Valve height is off about the same 1/8" to 3/16" as the seat is too deep...

 

To clarify. Are you saying the other valve are sunk as well? You lost me by using the word "same".

 

What I was trying to say was, the one affected hole, with the improperly installed seat, is the one with the valve height issue. The amount of valve height is is "off" is in direct correlation to the amount of measurement the seat is off.

 

He is saying the valve is as much too high as the seat is too deep which of course would be the case.

There should be thicker seats available. If the machine shop could give you the number of the seat they used, you could probably find one. The other way would be to machine the one they installed down to where they should have stopped and install another seat on top of it. SBI makes seats in many sizes.
http://www.sbintl.com/valveseatinserts.html

This should really be child's play for a competent machine shop but they are getting to be few and far between.

 

I hope we have a old parts counter guy on board that can give you some solid leads. Good luck, and take it to a different shop for the replacement.

 

Take it to a REAL machine shop. If they can't buy one to fit they can make one.

 

I was asking not because the seat is clearly set in deep. But when I look at how wide the seating edge is on the other hole I had to wonder if machine shop matched valve depth across all valves.

 

Make sure your machine shop of choice doesn't have any bars or taverns closeby.
We used to have an engineer that had a "liquid" lunch on a regular basis, we learned to double check any of his blueprints that were released after noon.

 

The face of seat surface angle is way different, lots smaller on the deep one.
If the face was the same surface size it migh not look so deep

Anyways they fucked it up but it's not un repairable

 

If I were allowed to use the machines at work, I could program them to remove the seat, mill out a new one from the proper material, and then chill it to -40ºC, so it drops right in.

But, alas, I am not allowed. So much potential.

 

I see that now as 100%. Just so everyone understands. I don't know where the line between the OP and machine shop lies. Example-Jim Grubbs of Jim Grubbs Mototsports is a heads up engine builder and engine machinist. But he's a fair guy when it comes to letting someone call the shot's on their stuff. He will discuss with a person what there purpose for only doing a single repair rather than a full repair and will match things to not so perfect as the other area's. He will then say it's your call and no guaranties. A liken it to how Squirrel puts together his rally cars. Doing only what it takes and accept it for what it is.

 

A tradesman that doesn't stand behind his work isn't a tradesman. They should take care of their screw up, but by now you don't want them touching it.
Like everyone said, you need a really good machinist/shop to take care of it. Once it's done, depending on the cost (and if they've been assholes about the incident), you can decide if you want to take the original shop to small claims court. You can also blow them up on Yelp.

 

You have to know someone or someone who knows someone especially with vintage speed parts...

 

If a frog had wings he wouldn't bump his ass on the ground when he tried to fly either.
But, alas, frogs do not try to fly with wings they do not have nor need,,, but if they had them.

I'm sure you'll figure out how to get them thinking that letting you use the machines is their greatest idea ever.

 

Like I have said before, when you get this kind of work from any type of shop and they will not fix it, you should call them out here so the rest of us don't get screwed. Name the shop!!!

 

Northwestern Auto in Grand Rapids, Mi. This "work" was done by Kenny in their own in-house machine shop, NOT sent out to some third party. Sad thing is they advertise in Hemmings, etc. I had used them for NOS parts in the past, but never machine work. Most all the other machine shops have closed in the area, so they got the work.

 

Goodson has been mentioned, they are great to deal with they may have a seat, or maybe Egge (sp) for a seat.

 

Rusty, how far above the keepers do the valve stems extend? Bones