what kind of valve problem is this pic?

[mazing3]

Funny you mentioned that Johnman. I was thinking the same thing but since this was the first 3.2s I'd seen I just thought they were different than 3.0 in that regard. There is a tiny little shelf up there on one side of each one in the same spot. So looks like these have been opened up a bit. There isn't much of a chamfer on the intake side either.

I gotta admit, these are the one item on this car that I didn't research and know exactly everything about before putting them on. I got them from a reputable shop here locally that I've know long enough to trust. He'd bought them for some other race motor project that wound up going in a different direction.

The funny thing I never normally talk about is that when these heads were on my 3.0 version of this motor, it made some incredible power. Dyno runs giving 224 at the wheels. 46mmPMOs, dc40 cams, and 9:5 JEs, SSIs & 2/2 M&k. Fwiw, the M&k with both tips running dual out was 3hp higher than running one out with the other side capped. The noise is worth keeping it capped. But beyond that, it was all stock 3.0l.

I casually looked here at some other guys numbers and mine appeared higher than most with similar configuration. I know I was getting higher compression over 3.0 heads just because of the non-existent head gasket sealing ring. Oh, my cylinders were 3.2 also. No change except the tops as far as I know.

So whatever the deal is with these they seem to be making strong numbers but clearly I need to find out more about them from the source and make sure they are going to stay together.

[Walt Fricke]

Robbie

Take the advice you have been given to do a leak down. It is more precise than a compression test. It will tell you if this cylinder leaks more than the other ones do. A couple of percent leakage is normal with stock rings and a tight motor. If you find 10 or 20 percent on this cylinder, and 2 on the others, you have a problem.

The other good thing about a leakdown is that you can tell where it is leaking: sound out the exhaust port, bad exhaust seal. Out the intake (easy with carbs, just open the butterflies), intake seal bad. Out the case breather, leaking by the rings - but there is always some there, so that's only usually an issue with bad numbers and no leakage out either valve.

Yes, you can use a compression test to check this. You can just screw in a home made air hose with a spark plug type end and blow air from your compressor in, and listen for where it comes out at TDC with both valves closed. But you can buy a leakdown tester at Harbor Freight or other places for well under $100, and it will last you a lifetime of messing with motors.

The endoscope sounds really neat, and why not do it - If you have exhaust valve leakage, maybe you can see if there is any scoring of the seat. But if anything mechanical has gone wrong, it is likely the valve is bent. Doesn't take much to cause a leak, even if the seats look perfect.

If a nut fell into the exhaust port, and you were lucky and the valve wasn't open enough to let it inside the combustion chamber, when you put on the headers and turned the motor over to take it off the stand and install it, the nut should have just fallen down into the header, and gotten blown into the muffler without hurting anything.

If the nut somehow got into the combustion chamber, I think it is unlikely that the valve didn't bend at some point while the nut found its way out. In addition, I'd expect clear indications on the piston and the dome of the head - gouges and such. There isn't really room for a nut in the combustion chamber.

Those might be something you could clean up with the head off to replace the valve (and maybe the guide) - I had some short M4 or 5 screws fall in through carburetors once when the car was in a race. I could tell it had gone bad when it went by on the next to last lap. Had to replace one piston because a top ring land got squashed a bit. Everything else cleaned up functionally just fine. Don't recall if any valves had gotten bent, though not all the screws were embedded in something - some just left thread marks.

When you look, you'll see.

Pretty unusual for anything to hit the protruding part of a valve guide. Their issues are, as many have stated, wear. Sometimes a valve guide boss - the raised part of the head in the port that the guide sits in - can crack, but you can see the crack. And that's not due to foreign objects.

If your leakdown numbers are good (compression is kind of a double check, though others think it is the other way around), and your endoscope doesn't show up anything which doesn't look like what you see when you look into other combustion chambers to calibrate your eyeballs, you can do a rough test of guide wear - pull the exhaust valve cover, rotate the engine until the rocker opens the valve just a bit, and push with a screwdriver on the tip of the valve. See how much it does or doesn't move. Do the same with the other two exhausts on that side after more rotating to see how they compare. If there is quite a difference, that one guide is probably due for replacement.

When you rotate the engine and watch that exhaust valve go up and down, what differences do you see on the part of the stem which is exposed when open? Big streaks of carbon seem to be one symptom of a loose guide.

[mazing3]

Walt, thank you. That was everything I needed to hear.

I'll take a look around the range of motion like you suggested. Same with the scope. Should be pretty easy to see if anything is banged up in there.

I do have the comp/leak down equipment so will give it all a check too over the next few days and determine my course of action. Ill report back with what I find.

Thanks again and thanks to everyone who has been helping with this thread for me.