Thread: the heads are off so what next?

The slight loose of coolant is due to the cylinder head gasket leeking.

The heads are going to come off to replace it;
Do I replace with an original part or is there an upgrade?

I'm looking to grined the valves and seats and do a bit of light port matching, are there any other gentle performance mods that can be done while the heads are off?

The cam is comming out as well any good tips on a performance replacment?

It's an auto so I'm not looking for burn outs at the lights, just an upgrade for warn parts

Originally Posted by black betty

The slight loose of coolant is due to the cylinder head gasket leeking.

The heads are going to come off to replace it;
Do I replace with an original part or is there an upgrade?

I'm looking to grined the valves and seats and do a bit of light port matching, are there any other gentle performance mods that can be done while the heads are off?

The cam is comming out as well any good tips on a performance replacment?

It's an auto so I'm not looking for burn outs at the lights, just an upgrade for warn parts

You dont need to do too much to the heads. You can machine the head face down to .892" from its std thickness of .902" but this is usually reserved for engines with std steel head gaskets being refitted with composite types, but you wont really notice any difference for doing it.
Best thing is to cleanup around your intake ports and the manifold and match port them, plus take out any rough casting marks but dont remove gobs of metal for no reason.
Same goes with the exhaust ports. With the head port metal removal, make the increase from the valve to manifold face gradual and clean as too much chop can produce hotspots in the metal and end up cracking.
Std manifold port uniformity is bad to say the least both in and out of Rover V8s and there is a lot of room for improvement.
With the chambers, cleaning up around the intake is not a bad idea, however dont have too much removed otherwise you will increase the cc's of the cylinder volume and lower you CR.
If you are machining the headface, be aware you may need to shim the rocker shaft posts a few thou worked out on the rocker ratio and how much you take off the face.
If you are facing the heads, do the matchporting last or nothing will line up!!

Sounds complicated, but its not really.........

Cheers
Andrew