[Vwdiesel] Honing, head rebuilding advice

[LBaird119 at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/10/2005 7:45:29 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
swright at zuiko.sls.bc.ca writes:

> I was quoted $160CDN for a valve grind, which would include 
> replacements of seals/guides/valves if needed, but not the parts cost.


  Wow that seems high.  Last time I had any done I think it was between 
a buck and two fifty a seat/face.  Think of doing the head this way. 
Nate was not the most mechanically adept member of this group 
and HE did his own valve guides with great success.  Price seems 
kinda high for honing too when it's $11/hole in Spokane and $14/hole 
here (IIRC) to bore and hone.  After my experience I'd buy a Sears or 
KD Tools hone and DIY.  Crank polishing is nice but not invaluable.  
Get a piece of crocus cloth, a little oil, make some long strips of it and 
see-saw a polish to it.  Won't take more than a half hour.  :-)
  You need to pull the old valve stem seals then you can drive or press 
out the old guides.  New ones drive or press in easily.  If you get the 
special punch as Nate did, you don't even have to ream, necessarily.
I bought the reamer, have always had to use it and have to use different 
lubricating to get the clearance I want for intake vs exhaust.  REPLACE 
the exhaust valves.  For the price compared to grinding them PLUS if 
you mic the stems you should find wear toward the head, that will be 
more than you want to accept.  Pricing might even make new intake 
valves reasonable compared to grinding.  Then you just pay to grind the 
seats.
  Time comes in when you do the stem length to get you into that 
3.70/3.75mm adjusting shim area.  Not mandatory but makes finding 
valve shims in the "normal" sizes much easier.  I always take the 
opportunity to do a little blending in the ports too.  :-)
     Loren