ignition timing?

[Shane Sawatzki]

After puttin paint thinner down the exhaust port it leaked out the 2 exhaust valves and after pulling the valves out we notice that there was a couple pieces of metal filings on the seats. the intake manifold i used had filings in it..and i thought i got them all blown out but must have missed some. so we pulled cyl 4's valves and after puttin them abck in they leaked only a tiny bit, so we figure if we do a seat grind and regrind those valves they will seal properly. so this seem to be good news...

[Chad Giffen]

well done. Hope that works out for you. It never really seems like that more work after you find the problem thats been plaguing you. now you just have to fix it!

Be sure those filings went no where else or your bearings will hate you.

[John Hartman]

I agree, get rid of all those filings.  Like really make sure.  Then change your oil and filter.  Do it again in a week.

As for the valve thing, take that head to a good machine shop that cuts not grinds the valve seats.  That works soooooo much better.

[Shane Sawatzki]

well after all the trying to make the valves seats, they still wouldnt seat perfectly, and rather than dick around i sent the head to JB. 580$ later its fully rebuilt with 2 new valves,valves seals, cam seals and all the exhaust studs fixed. head was also resurfaced:D no more guess work, just wanted the piece of mind that I had a good head and now I do. thanks for the help though guys

[John Hartman]

good job man, that should take care of it, as long as you put it togeather properly.  Think about ARP studs, now that its off, you may as well.

[Chad Giffen]

Good call man. $580 is a real good price too.

[Shane Sawatzki]

whats the advantage with arp studs? where would i get them and how much do they usually cost? im on a super tight budget now...lol

[Chad Giffen]

$110 usually and will help if you run boost over 18psi. The prevent your head from lifting from the headgasket under excess boost.

I wouldnt worry personally untill you are ready to run big boost.

[Shane Sawatzki]

yea i wont bother...i just plan on running 12-13 with a small 16g on stock fuel

[John Hartman]

but if you are planning on it later, you will want them.  And no, its not a good idea to do one stud at a time, you need to pull the head again to do it correctly, that means a new gasket and, well you know, you did it 2wice in the last little bit.

You can probably find them for around $95.  I suggest doing it now, not later.

Trust me, once you get 12-13 psi tuned nicely, you will upgrade something and soon you will want to run more than 20 psi.  Things really wake up above 20 psi 

[Shane Sawatzki]

lol but this might make u agree john, for know i just got the oem head gasket...when i want to run more boost I will change to a MLS h/g and at the same time the studs

[Matt Fredrikson]

I run 28 psi on a GT30 and its stock below the cams 

[John Hartman]

yea its been done Matt, but then some cars crank walk too and others don't.  Kind of a Japanese roulette game to me.

Shane, thing is with a MLS gasket, both surfaces have to be really really great.  The head, yea thats easy if the machine shop is good and knows what they are doing, but the block can't really be properly prepped in the car.

[Matt Fredrikson]

If I was you I'd buy the studs, you really shouldn't re use the stock head bolts cuz they'll be stretched so the price difference to upgrade is very small and its totally a peace of mine thing. You got the head off so for the extra 25 bucks just go with the studs and a stock head gasket will work very well for you as well