What do you pay to have cylinder heads prepped?

I know, how big is a rock.

I was just going through some papers and found my notes from when I had my '92 Miata head done in 1999 or so. Looks like it cost $1615 for all of the work: port work, new valves, cutting the deck, etc. I think we checked off a bunch of boxes on that one. That's also about $200 less than I paid for the Porsche heads. Just wondering what you guys are paying.

Oh, a PS: I still have the car and drove it today. It still pulls very nicely.

I paid $200 to Dover Head in Greenville, SC to "do" my head. I disassembled it and did port matching. I took it over as a bare head and provided new valves, guides and springs. The head already had hardened seats. They cleaned it, did a three angle grind, cut the head 0.050" and put it together.

A simple deck resurfacing for me at the shop was $65 for one, $85 for two. If I added a valve job it was another $85.

Port work? Way too hard to tell. Common stuff like Chevy heads I used to pay $105 per head for a gasket match and $135 if it included a bowl blend. I had a customer pay $2100 for fully porting/flow testing his Maserati Biturbo head.

Like you said, How big is a rock?

I have $1724 plus $200 core in the #...302 heads on my Dart:

They have 1.94"/1.6" valves and support 330 RwHp and 303 RwFtLb at 0.600" lift and 10.1:1 compression on a 0.040" over 318.

Dave

Suzuki G13b seven new valves, decked, 3 angle valve job, new seals (I supplied those) right at $500

I spent something like $300 IIRC on my BMW M10 head last year. I disassembled it and they cleaned it, decked it, checked it for cracks, and did a valve job. I put it all back together. No porting or anything fun.

Ummm... I bought a used center iron for a 13B for $40...

I usually buy heads that were already built from abandoned projects. Much cheaper that way. Paid $100 for my built F2T head. All new parts, big port job, dual valve springs, and a Delta 272 cam.

Cylinder heads is what I do.

For a Swift GT DOHC G13 I charge $750. That includes street/race porting, rebuild with bronze manganeze guides, 3 angles on the head, cam grind of your choice, lifter disassembly and cleaning, reface for squareness or compression, and assembly. Add 1 pc SS valves $150, add swirl polished valve with undercut stems $225.

For a G10 3 cylinder, it's $425 plus $60 or $90 for valves, in either performance or economy cam grind and porting.

Zomby Woof wrote: Cylinder heads is what I do. For a Swift GT DOHC G13 I charge $750. That includes street/race porting, rebuild with bronze manganeze guides, 3 angles on the head, cam grind of your choice, lifter disassembly and cleaning, reface for squareness or compression, and assembly. Add 1 pc SS valves $150, add swirl polished valve with tapered stems $225. For a G10 3 cylinder, it's $425 plus $60 or $90 for valves, in either performance or economy cam grind and porting.

Hot damn! You do other heads?

I'll let you know shortly, I've got to get a head done soon. Of course, with my project, "soon" means sometime before next year.

I dunno.. last set of Ford E7's, stock 5.0 Mustang heads, I had redone cost over $1600 for the pair. No porting, no nothing "special". Just a rules restricted pair of heads, I think.

$425 for a BMW S52 (the whole engine family)

That is cleaning, decking, checking, grinding the seats, replacing the guides/seals (I provide parts) and usually a good story about racing at the Pocono Drag Lodge back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and women knew their place.

I think cost depends too much on the engine and how easy it is to find someone who knows how to work on them. I would expect to pay far more to have a single Volvo B20 head ported than a pair of SBC/F/M (maybe a bit more for Mopar) heads simply due to the fact there's only one guy I trust to have it done and he's on the other side of the country. I feel reasonably confident my local speed shop could do a set of American heads or even most Asian car heads.

My valve job last year cost me:

1 spark plug socket that we cut a window in with a Dremel to serve as a valve spring compressor (in concert with a big C-clamp)
16 valve stem seals
1 cheap and crappy valve lapping tool
1 tub of lapping compound
1 tube of RTV sealant
1 tube of grease
1 spray can parts cleaner
1 spray can of ether (to check for leaks)
1 valve cover gasket (part of complete engine gasket kit)
1 cylinder head gasket (part of complete engine gasket kit)
Several hours of bonding and work with my dad

Some of those things we had laying around, of course. I didn't use a whole tube of RTV or grease.

$300 for the TR4 - decked, guides/seals...

I'm doing a fair share of heads these days... a typical 4AG head will usually run about $600-$800.

The breakdown... $350 for cleaning, decking, and a 3 angle $250-$450 for porting... depending on how extensive a job

SOME heads(my most recent one)... run over $2400... but that does include cams, O/S seat work, and HOURS of porting.....

Above is exhaust port #3 in transition. The far left panel shows the head as I got it from "another head porter".

here is a view @ a single bowl from #3 exhaust port

The call on this head was for O/S valves, with cam durations of about 300 degrees.

The lift is so much that the bucket cradles needed a little bit of massaging

Alan-

I noted that you used valve grinding/lapping compound. I read somewhere (right after doing my 4age 20v) that this is actually bad, because the grit causes a valley between the valve and the seat. That a freshly cut valve seat and valve are far better. It sounded good, but I don't know.

I guess I shouldn't have puked when I got the estimate for $750 to cut seats, face, clean up and adjust valve clearances on the 20v.

Teh E36 M3 wrote: Alan- I noted that you used valve grinding/lapping compound. I read somewhere (right after doing my 4age 20v) that this is actually bad, because the grit causes a valley between the valve and the seat. That a freshly cut valve seat and valve are far better. It *sounded* good, but I don't know. I guess I shouldn't have puked when I got the estimate for $750 to cut seats, face, clean up and adjust valve clearances on the 20v.

I lapped the valves on the GT-40P heads I had on my old Mustang. I did it by hand, just put a bit of lapping compound on the lip of the valve, then hand-spun the valve in the seat for a minute or two, then cleaned it up. I dunno, it certainly looked nice and smooth and even after it was done, and that engine always ran great and didn't burn any oil or anything. Surely not as good as a real valve job, but all it cost me was a couple of bucks for a tube of lapping compound and some time, so I figured what the heck?

Teh E36 M3 wrote: I noted that you used valve grinding/lapping compound. I read somewhere (right after doing my 4age 20v) that this is actually bad, because the grit causes a valley between the valve and the seat. That a freshly cut valve seat and valve are far better. It *sounded* good, but I don't know.

There are two schools of thought there. Some claim that the compound actually damages the valve and seat over the short term, and causes the (valve/seat) seal to go bad prematurely. I've heard as little as 10,000 miles. Personally, I like to have verification of the seal and location, and have never had a return for damaged or leaking valves or seats.

Tom is on a special diet so we usually do salads with ham or turkey or roast beef . And we he is on bottled water .

In reply to oldeskewltoy:

Hey, that one looks like $2400 worth of work. Seems like the previous guy just made it shiny.

Subaru EJ25 heads $175 for the pair.

Includes pressure test, resurface, valve job and new valve guide seals. They come back looking like new. My favorite local machine shop sees Subie heads on a weekly basis thanks to their head gasket issues.

Your basic daily driver rebuild.

My last set(2) of Rover V8 heads including port work, new valves, new springs, and machine work to the valve pockets and guides was less than that.