Rebuilding the Heads

[John Wilson]

My rattle has turned in to a clatter cam wearing its lobes and the valves sinking in to the head. The heads have got to go to Blackpool for a rebuild.

Major job of engine out etc..

Anyone else suffered the same fate? & what was the damage?

Worried that there may be something else lurking and am after reassurance that this is isolated wear?

[gazzab]

Had my 4.5 rebuilt and the heads were VERY VERY expensive.

[Julian64]

stupid question, but are the heads aluminium?

P.S. I promise not to sue anyone if your answer is incorrect and something I might end up relying on in court

>> Edited by Julian64 on Tuesday 8th June 16:02

[darreni]

from memory i think the heads are a grand (ish) each.
Ask of a full rebuild cost as well.
No point in gettting alll that work done , engine out etc & then some thing else lets go in a couple of months.

[John Wilson]

Thanks for the commercial appraisal. I'm getting my head around it. Spoken with some indys who were supportive, more like TVR counselors a sort of menagerie of Cerbera Samaritans.

I'm taking a view now of looking at it as an opportunity to upgrade performance and squeezing something further from it. In this way I can pretend to myself that I have spent the money wisely rather than squirted it down the drain to get the same, but lovely, thing back.

I don't know if the heads are aluminium, but they must be softer than iron to allow the valve to bed in through fast return, I'm assuming. This information is given with no faith and assurance and is not admisable in court under the 2004 act of probably cobblers!

[Buster4.2]

Is it not possible for the heads to be reconditioned anywhere else other than Blackpool?

Surely new seats, guides etc could be done by a cylinder head specialist at a fraction of the cost?

[John Wilson]

Buster4.2 said:

Is it not possible for the heads to be reconditioned anywhere else other than Blackpool? Surely new seats, guides etc could be done by a cylinder head specialist at a fraction of the cost?

A good question, to which I hope to have some answers tomorrow!

[shpub]

darreni said:

from memory i think the heads are a grand (ish) each. Ask of a full rebuild cost as well. No point in gettting alll that work done , engine out etc & then some thing else lets go in a couple of months.

That is actually quite cheap. The Rover V8 ones are upto £4 grand a pair to replace depending on spec.

I would agree that it is worth at least doing a full inspection and rebuild if necessary as the cost delta is not that great as most of the engine has to be stripped to change the heads anyway.

[shpub]

Oh and the heads are alloy. My magnetic pickup tool says so to.

[Julian64]

Oh, I would given anything to have a cheap as muck ex Cerb engine to play with. Even if it was dead as a dodo.