This is like the first a shop ever owned up to f'n up an FE head am I wrong ? lol... so KUDOS ON THAT MAN!! And yeah if he was going to put the $$ up to back his work up, I'd take the $ and go to the Ed heads in a sec. But I'd be looking for someone else to do the work. PERIOD.... unless he wants to sign a waiver for the work on those.

68 Mercury Cougar XR7. 4cyl Pinto powered. LOL Glenn when that sig hits a 3cyl Yugo your really pushing the boundaries of the upcoming sig rules LMAO!! Hell come to think of it maybe I am too... LMAO!! screw m if it gets that politically correct here I dun wanna play no more.

 

Yep I agree on the shop fessing up. That's very good news.


It's true Bobby I sold off all the FE stuff and I'm a goin Pinto power!! Maybe the tree huggers won't hate my poor Cat so much?? Naaaa!

 

I've seen an awful lot of quick'n'dirty head rebuilds over the years. All sorts of places to cut corners on, and for many shops that is standard procedure. Some it's their attitude, some just don't know any better. Sure, you can get away with it many times on stock stuff, because in decades past, the customer's expectations were pretty low, and a rebuilt set of heads that only lasted 10k or 20k miles was typical. Good quality, precise machine work, and the machinist willing to do it, has always been hard to find. I know when I got started in the business, other machinists told me I was trying too hard, and spending way too much time on head rebuilds. Well, they were right. For the same rebuild price, they could get a set of heads done in half the time or less. But, I wouldn't be proud of their work. And, years later, their heads have already come through my shop for another rebuild. On the other hand, i have met or talked to a number of shops around the country that DO make the extra effort, and DO still provide a quality product. They are in a small minority though.

Any head, whether it be SBC or FE, requires good work from the start. FE's are notorious for bad guides. Well, on a rebuild, most shops leave the guides loose in order not to have 'em sieze. That's usually because they don't have the tooling to size them correctly, and rarely have the $1300 Sunnen bore guage to accurately measure guide clearance. It's usually the old "feel" method. Ford also had a lot of problems with cutting valve seats in the late 60's. I've seen many sets that were already at the max valve seat depth and
more, right from the factory. That means the valve stem tips are at the max allowed height, before you even start on the valve job. New exhaust seats allow you to set the exh valves to the correct depth/stem height. But the intakes can be real trouble. Often, we will use oversize intake valves to try and get into fresh seat material and correct the seat depths. On CJ heads, we've had to install intake seats in some cases.

Each pair of heads needs to be evaluated. But the end result should be that the stem heights are in the .030" range allowed by Ford spec. Some times that means a little stem cutting to even things up. But, I've seen shops cut way too much material off the stems to correct stem height problems, which means they are cutting past the hardened end on the valve stem tip, another no-no. Also, all new valves should be faced, as that are not always concentric out of the box. Another step that is often skipped as unnecessary.
Heck, you should be putting a back cut on the intake valve anyway if you're doing any kind of quality job.

Once the seat depths/stem heights are set up, EACH INDIVIDUAL spring installed height should be checked. Most shops only check two, and set em all up the same. But there are too many variables that can come into play. I've seen over .050" variance just in one pair of valve locks vs another. ALL of the valve springs should be tested for proper pressure at the actual installed heights, not just one or two. I cannot tell you how many times we have checked fresh heads only to find the springs weren't set up properly, causing poor performance, tuning problems, etc. Blueprinting the cylinder head assy is added work, but pays off in longevity and performance.

A note on the Edelbrock heads. We buy all ours bare, so that we can do the valve job and select the components. I'm not a big fan of their finished heads. We got four sets in two weeks ago. Bare heads require that the guides be honed (if a shop doesn't have a diamond guide hone, look elsewhere-reaming is not a good idea), and the raw seats must be cut. They are NOT ready to assemble out of the box. Of the four sets I did, three had the guides at one size to start, and the fourth set was a different size before I sized them. Everything must be checked.

We've done LOTS of Ford FE heads over the years, from std 390's to CJ, MR, Dove, E-Bock, Shelby, and Blue Thunder. If someone has some questions, post 'em so others can share, and I'll try to lend a hand. You might drop me an e-mail though, and mention the posting, as I don't get to stop by here that often.

Enough ramblings for tonight.

 

I rest my case Rob !! BTW.... the last starter i bought from you ran for years....until it was shorted out ? My bad !! LOL.... You do produce some really good stuff out of your shop and it should be commended !!

~Russ

 

OOOOOOPS !!! Thats what I get for mixing wine with my beer yesterday !!

WRONG Rob !!! LOL

~Russ

 

Russ you are think of this guy! LOL He is out of NV NOT Colorado LOL

RobbMc Performance Products - Ford FE/SB Starter

 

LOL I like to support my local economy.

When I bought the heads off the T-Bird engine I asked my local buds who they trust with FE parts. Two names came up, and one of those guys posted in this thread.

Go git-em Rob!