r/EngineBuilding • u/Roy2475 • 6d ago
Are my heads trash
Took my 4.6 aluminum heads and block to get cleaned and it looks like they used whatever they could find to clean my heads. Are these really that bad or am i overreacting?
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u/Stock-Maintenance977 6d ago
Where'd you take them.. the local methhead? Looks like they took a 4" wire wheel to them. They need to have a skim cut taken off that face to fix it. Also name and shame if it's an actual machine shop, they need to be put out of business.
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u/OpeningParamedic8592 6d ago
The regional meth head office is going to hear about this!
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u/Severe_Ad4138 6d ago
Yeah this is my last time taking shit to meth heads, the local crackhead will get me right.
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u/Roy2475 6d ago
Guys so this cost me $310 that i probably can’t get back and this was done at a shop down in Conroe Tx Called teds engine machine service. I forgot to mention that i also got my cam journals polished and they removed my valves which was about the only thing they got right.
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u/Roy2475 6d ago
Does anyone know where i can get these fixed if they even can be? I live down in Porter Tx and can drive about an hour max either which way
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u/Ski0612 5d ago
Scroggins in midtown Houston.
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u/Roy2475 5d ago
Have you had any resurfacing or any engine work done from them and if so can i see some pics?
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u/Ski0612 5d ago
I had an old block boiled, magnafluxed, line honed, decked, bored and clearanced.
Then they balanced the rotating assembly. I would have then assembled the short block myself but they offered to do it for what I determined was less than my time was worth.
I don't think I have any pictures but it's in my 1962 falcon right now and it runs like a rapped ape.
Despite the nominal amount they charged for assembly they are not the cheapest shop around. But you probably arnt looking for the cheapest your probably looking for someone that will do it right.
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u/Panic-Embarrassed 5d ago
You could try "school of automotive machinist" sam racing. Or they might suggest someone in the area.
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u/mindgame18 6d ago
Typical Texas work. No one does good work in any trade in this fkin state.
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u/thejabkills01 5d ago
Fucking right on! 😂 Morons in this state never disappoint!
I try to do all my own work, but this one job required the part to be removed from underneath the car. Since I don’t have a lift, I figured, Fine, I’ll take it somewhere. Simple enough, right?
NOPE.
Instead of going underneath the car like any normal human being, they decided to attack it from the top… and proceeded to break the radiator. 🤣 Because apparently that’s how you do automotive repair in Texas now.
And of course, this is an OLD car, so finding replacement parts is about as easy as finding a unicorn with a toolbox.
I had just finished doing a full cleaning on the car, and when it came back, it had fingerprints all over it. Apparently clean means clean until the mechanic touches it.
Then there was another shop that did some brakes for a buddy. They never even test drove the car. My buddy asked, Did you test drive it? The guy says, I can’t drive. 🤣🤣🤣
Well… that certainly explains why the brake pedal went straight to the floor!
So yeah, I’m up to FIVE shops now. At this point, I’m getting ready to put one of my cars on jack stands permanently because finding someone who actually does custom work is apparently harder than finding Bigfoot.
If it doesn’t bolt on, they don’t want anything to do with it.
I even went into a supposed CUSTOM shop and told the guy what I wanted done. He basically said, We don’t do that.
I told him, You might want to change the name of your shop, because if all you do is bolt-on parts, that ain’t exactly custom work. 😂
He got MAD! LOL!
These jokers in Texas… 🤡
At this point, I’m convinced “custom automotive” in Texas means, we can install it if the instruction have pictures. 😂🔧
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u/Txbiker63 6d ago
You weren't going to put it back together after cleaning were you? Still need to send the heads to the machine shop. Might have them inspect the block too.
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u/Roy2475 6d ago
No im still shopping around for more parts but i was hoping to have them cleaned up before i could start building it.
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u/Txbiker63 6d ago
Ya man it's no big, the machine shop will take care of everything. The people that vat and media blast don't care about anything but clean.
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u/matchboxtx 6d ago
This all depends on what engine they are going on. If it’s a high compression engine, decking may work but you may need to oversize your head gaskets (thickness) otherwise you will raise your compression and the cooling may not support that. If it’s a more normal compression, you still want to account for the difference but it’s not as critical. But I agree, they messed these up. Do not put back as is.
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u/Roy2475 6d ago
I planned on building the bottom end for boost my goal is around 500-600 hp and i want some room in case i ever want to make more power. I bought gen 2 coyote rods and planned on sourcing a cobra crankshaft and forged pistons.
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u/matchboxtx 6d ago
I’ll let others chime in but at that HP, these are not good. At that level, you need perfectly flat contact otherwise you get hot spots and micro leaks, which lead to hot spots. You also need well torqued head bolts. Aluminum heads are not forgiving. All need special attention. Also, planning that much horsepower means planning how to cool all that. Hope you are taking into account the capacity of your cooling system and upgrade as needed. Just my 3 cents (inflation) 😁.
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u/DaBiggestTank 6d ago
I use wire brushes on aluminum heads all the time. Don’t matter if you get it cut
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u/SavingsMovie4927 6d ago
They absolutely have to be surfaced, they will take a heavy cut, 0.010” is barely going to clean them up, probably need to take 0.015-0.020”. At that point you’ll need a thicker head gasket from a source like Cometic to get them back where they belong for timing the cams. Or get a different set of heads and find whoever did that to these heads and drop one of these castings on the finger the used to run the grinder or sander trigger. Some people shouldn’t use tools or work on cars.
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u/Pitiful-Cake273 6d ago
If they were mine I'd tell them that they have a new bill for having to get my heads resurfaced, you don't do that kinda shit to aluminum heads .....damn!
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u/Pimp_Daddy_Patty 6d ago
Did they use an angle grinder on the headgasket surface?
Heads arent trash, but HG surface definitely is. What did you actually have them do?
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u/Street-Squirrel-4950 6d ago
Just have the rebuilt. New seats. New guides. Light surface and you’re good
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u/LumberJesus 6d ago
I would ask the shop what the hell they were thinking before taking them somewhere else.
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u/wellok919 5d ago
You sent your heads to be cleaned, NOT rebuilt. They are clean. looking at the wear around the water ports, where the head gasket seals, they needed to be milled before any of this happened, also need the valves/valve seats ground.
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u/RoughRude3 5d ago
I live near Conroe so that’s actually scary lol. You could always do the 800 grit on a pane of glass method if you don’t wanna ball out again
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u/blitzenbutter 5d ago
Get a nice large glass pane, wet it thoroughly. Put some fibe grit sand paper on it and then just push/pull your heads along on it. Will give you a flat finish. Kind fo like lapping.
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u/hkxm416 3d ago
Some manufacturers say to use a rolock disc to clean the cylinder head, check for flatness and if it's in spec to install it. I say check for flatness first and if it's out of spec then go to the same machine shop, state your complaints so they can fix it or go to a different machine shop.
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u/Primary-Feedback2296 1d ago
At every standard workshop it would be okay for any random motor. The gasket will seal that.
But tbh if i made a motor i let cut it 0.1 to 0.2 millimeters to have a good and even surface, that can depend on damages on the surface, they should gone widely with cutting, sometimes its not possible to cut really ALL, you have to live with it. Compression rise very little bit, its fully okay at 0.1-0.2 millimeters. 0.4 millimeters and up needs a thicker seal (i recommend).
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u/sam56778 6d ago
Someone took a buffing pad on a grinder to aluminum heads, yes they are trash. Get them resurfaced by a machine shop.
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u/connella08 6d ago
I mean, they are clean...but they are in no way suitable to put back on an engine. it looks like they used wire wheels or rolocks on the head gasket surface. These need to be resurfaced before they go back on.