885 Head Question

[e30crazie]

I have an 885 head that was fully rebuilt and driven on for about 6k miles. Long story short, the TB broke as I may have over tightened it (first time replacement). My question is that obviously the valves were bent, I since bought the replacement valves but when I took it to the shop for replacing, the guy told me that he couldn't just replace the damaged valves. He is charging me 180.00 for a complete valve job, grind and re-seat the valves, clean and shaven. I wanted to know from all of you seasoned DYI'ers if all of this is necessary or is he just feeding my bull shite so I can spend more. The head has no more than 6k and still looks brand new, its never been overheated or mistreated.

Please give me some advice so I can move forward with the job or take it some where else.

Thanks

[Cabriolet]

consider that cheap. usually the guides need to be replaced as well. and yes the grinding of the new valves to match the seats is a must.

[e30crazie]

Gotcha'... I just needed to justify spending money. The guy has an e30 and is familiar with these heads so I will be comfortable handing it over.
Thanks for the feedback.

[dsphil]

I have an 885 head that was fully rebuilt and driven on for about 6k miles. Long story short, the TB broke as I may have over tightened it (first time replacement). My question is that obviously the valves were bent, I since bought the replacement valves but when I took it to the shop for replacing, the guy told me that he couldn't just replace the damaged valves. He is charging me 180.00 for a complete valve job, grind and re-seat the valves, clean and shaven. I wanted to know from all of you seasoned DYI'ers if all of this is necessary or is he just feeding my bull shite so I can spend more. The head has no more than 6k and still looks brand new, its never been overheated or mistreated.

Please give me some advice so I can move forward with the job or take it some where else.

Thanks

180 is either really cheap or I got ripped off. It cost me $125 just clean and shave, and I have to do the rest. Taking the head apart and putting in back together is not a 15min job.

[Ray Smoodiver]

180 is either really cheap or I got ripped off. It cost me $125 just clean and shave, and I have to do the rest. Taking the head apart and putting in back together is not a 15min job.

Little of column A, little of column B.

[e30crazie]

180 is either really cheap or I got ripped off. It cost me $125 just clean and shave, and I have to do the rest. Taking the head apart and putting in back together is not a 15min job.

This is my first trip to the machine shop for a fix so I am unsure of the cost. Its a small shop in Pomona but has good reviews on Yelp. My comfort lies on the fact that he knew the type of head it was, not a Jap Civic or Accord head. Anyway, I guess I'm getting a deal so I will take it to fix tomorrow and install over the weekend.

[Som]

This thread was a recent machine shop fee discussion. http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=358357

Not sure what you mean by "clean and shaven" -- if it refers to the head itself, as in they're tanking it and decking it, or the valves are going to be cleaned and shaven/ground.

I paid $80 for the decking, $80 for cleaning (which included pressure testing), and $150 for the valve job.

So if you're paying $180 all of that, sounds like a great deal. If you're paying $180 just for the valve job, it's sounds like it's in the right ball park.

As for whether or not they would do just a few valves, I wouldn't be surprised if it's an all or nothing thing -- and I think my machine shop was the same way. I don't know how the valve grinding machines work, but I imagine the head setup is a good chunk of the work. Whether they do 1 or 6 (per side) may not actually be that much more/less work. So it might be easier to just offer all/nothing service instead of a "$150 setup + $5 valve" fee structure. Just guessing, though. Don't know for sure.

Som

[e30crazie]

This thread was a recent machine shop fee discussion. http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=358357

Not sure what you mean by "clean and shaven" -- if it refers to the head itself, as in they're tanking it and decking it, or the valves are going to be cleaned and shaven/ground.

I paid $80 for the decking, $80 for cleaning (which included pressure testing), and $150 for the valve job.

So if you're paying $180 all of that, sounds like a great deal. If you're paying $180 just for the valve job, it's sounds like it's in the right ball park.

As for whether or not they would do just a few valves, I wouldn't be surprised if it's an all or nothing thing -- and I think my machine shop was the same way. I don't know how the valve grinding machines work, but I imagine the head setup is a good chunk of the work. Whether they do 1 or 6 (per side) may not actually be that much more/less work. So it might be easier to just offer all/nothing service instead of a "$150 setup + $5 valve" fee structure. Just guessing, though. Don't know for sure.

Som

Thanks SOM... And yes, "clean and shaven" is regarding the head not my GF LOL. Anyhow, initially I took it in and he said $60.00 just to replace the valves, when I went back he quoted me $180.00 for a complete valve job, tanked and cleaned, pressure tested, decked and reseat the valves. He told me that its not worth doing just the valves, that he still needed to tear the head apart so just to do the whole thing.

Anyway, I didn't have time today but I will take it Saturday morning.

[Som]

Actually, now that you mention it, it sounds like an even better deal (or I got overcharged).

I paid $310 for everything you're describing, and I provided my head to the machine shop completely torn down with all the valves/springs/rockers/collets in individually marked containers. If $180 includes tear down and reassembly along with everything else you mentioned, I'd say that's a great deal (borderline too-good-to-be-true, but I don't have a ton of data points, so maybe not).

Assuming, of course, by "grinding" they don't mean just lapping the valves/seats with paste.

Som

[TobyB]

Wow, yeah, that's a deal.

One of the reasons for doing all 6 at the same time is that you want to keep the seats
at the same height. That keeps the head volume the same for all 6, and compression even.

Plus, then you know it's right...

t