Major Cylinder Head Problems

[So Live]

Hey all,
I have been trying to get my 24v e30 on the road for a few weeks. So i got the thing all squared away and started the beast. It pumped up the coolant system really really hard and basically i determined it needed a head gasket. No big deal, right? ... Wrong. The head is cracked in three fucking spots. So thats like a week ago. I found a used head that checked out for $350. Score. So i decided to get a valve job and have it resurfaced just so i will have a fresh head and wont have to worry about it...

I got the head back from the machine shop along with my new head gasket kit and the head bolts from BMA. Bolt all the shit together get it timed correctly, put new fluids in it and plug it all in. Nothing! It spins but its not pumping up. try compression test. 0 psi across first 5, maybe 5 psi on jug 6.
Turns out the dude never tipped the valves. With the cam shafts intalled all the valves are stuck open. Basically i need to determine what the valve stem legnth is so he can cut them down and give me the money for the gasket and bolts i wasted because he didnt do his job.

Any ideas? Where can i find this info? I need real numbers here because this isnt exactly a thing you can get wrong.

If you dont know what any of that means, please dont give me b/s answers.

Thanks in advance!!!! Sorry for sounding sort of dick but im thoroughly pissed off at this point.

[streetknight]

does it matter if its a vanos or novanos? if no one else knows by monday i can take my head apart and measure a valve. i have my head of teh block right now.

[matt]

Welcome to my world.

[So Live]

Haha, i feel your pain. Im not exactly sure. I know that when the shit gets worn the valves get longer correct? I dont want to measure a valve thats not in spec, you know. I have the old cracked head in my garage. I dont know what to do really. Any input/advice would be helpful.

[matt]

Buy a longblock and put it in. Will be MUCH cheaper than doing a head/gasket/everything else. And it'll be MUCH MUCH cheaper than doing it all twice. :)

[So Live]

Yeah. Hopefully this guy will throw me some money for the gaskets/bolts and fix the problem he created.

I didnt really have a problem doing the valve job and the head gasket because i hopefully wont have to fuck with it for a longgggggg time. Im just really pissed that it dosnt work because this idiot was being lazy.

Its all good though, ive only spent like $2200 so far, so i have a long way to go to get up to your level. :)

[matt]

My motor itself cost me about $2200 running. I spent all the rest of the money on my car on the rest of the car (shocks, springs, brakes, suspension parts... all brand new)

The motor:
$500 for the tore up long block
$1000 to swap the valves and cams into a new head + head gasket + other work on the car (the only thing I've ever paid anyone to do on this car except an oil change... dumb move.)
$400 short block + shop time to swap it in and set it up.
$300 two head gaskets and a set of studs and some other misc shit
$350 for a new head

So $2550 in the car running.

HOW NOT TO DO AN M50 SWAP!!

[PiercedE30]

I have a bunch of brand new valves sitting next to me that I can measure tomorrow for you (when I go into work and grab my caliper).

[So Live]

I need to know how far they should stick out of the head, you know what i mean? I dont know, he'll have to figure the damn thing out. I just dont want it to just barely work and be at the end of its specefied range. i want it to be right in the middle but theres no knowing what that is aparently.

[trent]

shouldn't a competent machine shop be able to figure that out, or have the information? Hell, they should even be stocking new valves for that car/head.

[PiercedE30]

+1 on what trent said.
But, I just went and measured and according to my caliper, it is right at 0.775", or 19.685mm.
Jon

[So Live]

Yeah, in theory he should have it. But aparently he dosnt know it or something because he didnt do it. Pierced, thats the stem coming out of the head? How is the head? has i been surviced before? If so thanks alot!

[PiercedE30]

Head has about 80k miles on it. Came out of a wrecked (rear end) 91 525i. It's a non-vanos M50 motor. As far as I know, the head was never serviced, other than the usual things like plugs, sensors, etc.

[So Live]

Cool, thanks alot.