Thread: Head recondition or not?

Originally Posted by lyonsy

the max you can safely skim off the head is 10 thou after that you will start loosing hardness of the head (making the head soft so it will compress more over time and move more over time)
if it has more then a 10 thou warp ether clean up the head your self (i doubt you have a precision machined steel block to wrap 1200 grit sand paper around to clean the surface up so i would just use a rectangle stone that's wider then the head after getting as much off with a razor blade) and refit and start saving for a new head so when it goes again you have the money there to do it. cost is time and gasket/head bolts $500

if it has a 10 thou or less warp you can have the head skimmed (the less the better) with a hardness check before and after (if its gone soft stop at this point and ether get a new head or refit untill you can afford/have the gasket blow again) and have the valves and seats re cut (may need new seats or valves if they have too much wear) new stem seals fitted and have the valve guides and valves checked for wear, along with pressure testing of the head (both the water and fuel need pressure testing) and crack testing done off all the injector sleeve's (land rover heads injector sleeves are a bit thin and are know to crack) $1000-2000 for head work + gasket head bolts etc depending on how much work and shop you may get cheaper

Fit new AMC head $3000-4000 for head depending on shop plus + gasket head bolts etc

IMO if your planing to keep it ether clean up and refit and save for a new head or get a new AMC that fixes the injector sleeve issues rebuilding the head might last the rest of the life of the engine or it might crack an injector sleeve etc and the cost of the head rebuild gets you half way to a new head anyway

Also check your block looks like no5 at the rear of the engine the linner around the rear water gallery is sitting lower then the back edge of the block

Not sure what you mean by no5? Could you explain? Thanks

He means cylinder no.5, if it was me i'd be getting the head hardness tested, tested for warpage then consider a skim just to provide a clean flat surface to give the gasket a better chance of sealing.
I did a TDI head 2 years ago and although it looked flat i got it skimmed anyway.