Where to rebuild cylinder heads?

[YTNUKLR]

Looking for a reasonable place that does cylinder head rebuilds, in L.A. area. edit See new thread.. Thanks!

[aigel]

ebs www.ebsracing.com has a service that seems very affordable. Anyone here dealt with them? I think they have a good reputation, however, I am unsure if they do it themselves or if they aren't outsourcing it. Anyone know?

George

[smestas]

I brought mine to Dick at Engine Machine Service (EMS)
310-641-7019 near LAX. They did an awesome job and were very eager to answer all of my dumb questions. They also seemed to have the most competitive pricing on head work without a lack of craftsmanship.

100% percent satisfied customer!


BEFORE


AFTER

[rcwaldo]

AASE bros in Anaheim (Randy) did my 2.7 heads. Very reasonable pricing and great work!

Chris

[briankeithsmith]

I used EBS Racing. Mine came back great!

Brian

[vichang4]

I used Competition Engineering and they did a great job on an unusual rebuild. CE

[Henry Schmidt]

SUPERTEC PERFORMANCE
Faster turn around than most others listed. Prices are comparable.

[markwemple]

EMS did a great job for me and are very easy to talk to. Besides, they love VWs and Audis too!

[garibaldi]

The heads in the picture of the berfore and after work are not the same heads. Did the shop that did the work send you back a set of heads from another motor?

[smestas]

Originally posted by garibaldi
The heads in the picture of the berfore and after work are not the same heads. Did the shop that did the work send you back a set of heads from another motor?

Nope they were all the same ones that I sent to them. I made sure to stamp them all before they all went out. I might have a miss matched set since the motor was gone into from the previous owner. I never noticed anything different about them, please tell me what you see?

[dtw]

Casting dates are different.

[Bobboloo]

I've used Ollies and EMS. I personally prefer Ollies even though EMS is about four blocks from my house. The downside to Ollies is they are in Santa Ana (long drive), they get swamped and sometimes it takes them a while. Also, Ollies is cash only.

I've heard great things about CE and Supertec but havn't used them personally.

As far as casting dates I don't think it's uncommon to have heads cast in different months i.e. 10-77 and 11-77. It looks to me like the (before) head on the far left might be a 10-77.

[smestas]

Thanks guys!

I was starting to worry. I went thru all of my older images of the heads before and after and I do see that there was one in the set that has that 10-77 stamp. All the others have a 11-77 stamps.

Good eye on catching the different dates Christian.

[garibaldi]

No, I saw the dates that were different, but the heads in the before picture, at least from what I can tell from a photograph, have a groove cut into the mating surface for a sealing ring, and, again, photograph and depth perception being difficult, there is no way that he milled a small amount off of those heads in the before picture and got them to flatten out like the ones in the after picture. Usually you clip maybe .010 from the surface, those grooves look like they could be .050 deep- thats why I said that they are not the same heads, along with the date thing.

Plus, see how the intake valve seems to be higher on its seat in the before picture, and in the after pic, it buried down more in the head. Even if you do guides, and touch the seats to get them to come home, there is no reason to have to do that much cutting or grinding, whatever the method your shop used to get the valve to seat in properly by taking it that far. You lose compression, and you also lose valve lift since now the valve has to travel an extra .015 lets say before it breaches the chamber. I have seen so many heads that get brought to me to do, that have had a valve job done that just buries the head of the valve so far down the seat, that they need to have the seats replaced. Not only that, the seat cutters that often get used, will leave a sharp ridge right where they stop cutting, which disrupts the flow into the chamber after it passes the seat.

When I do a valve job, I wet grind the seats, which takes longer, gives a better finish and can be more consistent, but you can sneak up on it, rather than getting it done, all 3 angles in one shot with cutting, and winding up with a disaster if done incorrectly.

[Bobboloo]

Not trying to to pick a battle or defend EMS but the "groove" in the before picture is actually a bit of an optical illusion. It's really just carbon build up from the groove that's cut into the cylinder (not the head) to hold the CE ring gasket.

As for the intake valve that's riding low, that's another thing altogether. Like I said before EMS is four blocks away and I've got them resurfacing a flywheel for me as we speak but some things I would drive the extra distance and pay the extra cash for. Head rebuilding and case prepping are two that come to mind. I believe their work is adequate but when I start on my next project motor a 2.8 MFI 9.8:1 motor the case and heads will probably go to Ollies or Supertec.

[smestas]

Originally posted by Bobboloo
the "groove" in the before picture is actually a bit of an optical illusion. It's really just carbon build up from the groove that's cut into the cylinder (not the head) to hold the CE ring gasket.

It is a optical illusion that was left there from the CE ring. As for the depth of the new valves I opted not to replace the seats and just had them recut/grinded so that and optical illusion make it probably seem alot deeper then the original image.