Hardened Seats?
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Hardened Seats?
Picked up a set of nice heads from the local wrecking yard.Nothing special, just the standard FE, but untouched. I had them hot tanked and valves reground. All are in great shape-yuo can even see the Ford emblem on all the intakes. The valve seats look good too. The machinest said there was no need to put hardened seats in cast iron heads. First time I've ever heard that!! He went on to explain with all the stuff added to todays gas the valves get plenty of cushion. So are hardened seats a way machine shops make more $$$, or are they adviseable. I am looking for longevity and dependability, not bandaids. Thanks,JR
FE "Freakin Expensive"
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 6,461
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From: Smith Mountain Lake, VA
Yep you run Hardened seat for the new fuels out there, from the lack of lead in the fuel....If you have soft seats and ever run a HI-PO Fuel or addidtive that contains lead in it..It will burn out the soft exhaust seats in a heart beat..
And plus A hardened seat will last forever in a street Vehicle...again cheap insurance!!
Russ
And plus A hardened seat will last forever in a street Vehicle...again cheap insurance!!
Russ
Post Fiend
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 8,600
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From: Iowa
If they're D2TE-AA (1972) or later heads, they have induction hardened valve seats, which means they actually harden the metal that's already there. They are fine for unleaded.
If they're older than mentioned above, YOU NEED HARDENED VALVE SEATS. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Without the hardened valve seats, you'll ruin seats in about 20,000 miles.
The thing was, when they eliminated lead in gas, the old cars running around still had a nice coating of lead on the valve seats. They could run almost forever like that on unleaded, since they had been run for a long time on leaded. However, the minute you do 1 valve seat job, that layer of lead is gone, and you'll destroy seats very quickly on unleaded unless you have hardened seats put in.
Now you know.
If they're older than mentioned above, YOU NEED HARDENED VALVE SEATS. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Without the hardened valve seats, you'll ruin seats in about 20,000 miles.
The thing was, when they eliminated lead in gas, the old cars running around still had a nice coating of lead on the valve seats. They could run almost forever like that on unleaded, since they had been run for a long time on leaded. However, the minute you do 1 valve seat job, that layer of lead is gone, and you'll destroy seats very quickly on unleaded unless you have hardened seats put in.
Now you know.
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Thanks for the input,rusty, russ, and gtex. I figured it was cheap insurance to have hardened seats installed while the haeds were bare, but didn't really follow the machinists way of thinking. I will verify casting numbers this weekend, as the heads are in my shop, out of town. Thanks again,JR.
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