supes6

I used Allied Industrial over in falls church, va. They charged me $550 to do a valve job and fix a broken exhaust stud. They also had to flatten the block mating surface apparently. Now, the issue I'm having is that upon further inspection I noticed some scratches on the cam tower surface which could almost be called gouges. I don't see how they could have gotten there on the drive home, and actually it doesn't seem that they could have gotten there without the valves being out. I didn't have it laying on that side, and even if I did, it would be resting on the valves and not the cam tower surface. Should I take this back and have them fix it or is it not a big deal?

KuHL 951

Is it just the photo or did they paint the camtower gasket surfaces on your head? That is not good at all. Bare aluminum only or it will leak. You sure pay more for for a valve job than I do out here. I did mine with all exhaust studs removed for <$250 at a great shop

supes6

It's bare aluminum.. I assume they soda blasted it or something.

krystar

i wouldn't think it's a big deal. with a cam tower gasket in place and cam tower torqed down, there shouldn't be any oil leakage.

the marks are prob from when they clamped the head down for decking. when i gave mine to the machine shop, it still had the cam tower gasket on it. i saw similar marks on my gasket.

Richgreenster

It looks like they are from them when they compressed the valve springs. Sloppy work. I would show them and ask them what they would like to do about it.

V2Rocket

for the record i had my head machined and stuff in 2005, top and bottom. the top had some deep gouges in it from like a screwdriver or something from a previous mechanic so i wanted to get those out, they were still there but smaller when i got the head back from machining but i havent had any leaks from the area the gouges were in since 2006 when the car got back together.

supes6

Sounds like they shouldn't be a problem.. let's hope. Given the fact that they gouged both the head AND the price, I think I'll be taking my stuff somewhere else next time.

V2Rocket

maybe try some of that grey gasket stuff around the outside edges of the cam box to make sure it doesnt leak

krystar

head deck was only $50 at my local machine shop.

what valve work did u get?

PorscheDoc

Yea looks like sloppy valve removal, but if you use a little aircraft permatex (very thin brown sealant) or hylomar on both sides of the gasket when you install, I doubt you will have any issues.

supes6

I have some of the hylomar.. blue stuff. So I should use that on the cam housing gasket? Most of what I read seemed to recommend installing it dry.

For the valve job - they basically cleaned all the valves, installed new valve guides and seals, checked for cracks, milled the surface flat, and helicoiled the broken exhaust valve.

PorscheDoc

Yea, usually you put it on dry with smooth surfaces, but i would want the piece of mind of sealing those gouges. I haven't used hylomar personally, but some people talk about it on paper gaskets. I use the aircraft permatex....it is very thin, like sticky water, not thick like a rtv silicone.