head assembly Q, more like dis-assembly
 

okay so i took the heads to a guy to check them out and he removed all 8 valves from a head and throws all the parts into a box. now i have no way of knowing which valve came out of which hole, nor which ball went with which rocker arm. or which valve lock went to which valve.

i just took another set of heads apart one valve at a time, so that it would go back the way it was. (first time i ever did it myself, cause of the above)

does this matter at all? should i care? can i just put it all back together? and what about emmie lou?

don't all speak at once
 

so i asked a friend at a machine shop. here's what he said. feel free to chime in if you disagree:
valve locks: who cares
balls on the rocker arms: woulda been nice, but prolly won't matter
valves in the right hole: yes, matters only as far as the seats go, not the guides. if putting back together without lapping the valves then it will matter alot. if you are lapping the seats and valves then it won't matter.

so there.

Is this a plain jane rebuild?

Like you, I'd rather keep the parts to their mates after having wear patterns established but, it probably won't amount to a hill o beans if it's not seeing a LOT of spring pressure.

The valves should be lapped though. Even if you knew where they all went.




Larry

I agree that only valves and seats are really critical. Treat it as a puzzle and see how good you are matching up parts. First place to start is to look for patterns between the exhaust and intake valve heads. One or two cylinders will probably have more carbon and those valves should also be darker. You might even have some patterns across both valves that would line them up. If this doesn't match them all up, then you are stuck fitting them in their holes and checking how well they seal up.

I say the rocker arm pivot balls should be kept together also, but that is just what I have been told, never mixed them up to see if anything gets messed up. I dont know if you are just doing a cheapie rebuild, but if it was me and I had the heads apart anyway, I would throw a valve job on them right away.

parts
 

If the valves and seats are good enough to use without re-machining them then it's not a problem. If they are bad enough that you can't swap holes then they need re-machined anyway..

I personally have never had any issues with swapping rockers/balls/pushrods etc.. Again if it's worn enough not to mix and match you shouldn't be using it anyway.

Keith