got my unknown abd head stripped down now , how can i judge if the valve guides are good or bad?

and has anyone had them replaced , if so what did it cost

heres one of the inlet valves..are they always this filthy?

well i have just dismantled a valver head on 100k and the valves were immaculte, just a little oily...

that may be of some help?

The tolerances are in the haynes, but you'll need some specialist equipment to measure them. I had my bro have a look, and he just wiggled the new valves in the guides and said the guides needed replacing. I took it to my local engine builder and they said the same. My actual valves were really pitted to, with lots of pitting on the contact face, so it most probably didnt have the best seal.

As regards cost, mines costing around £160 - 50ish for 8 valves from GSF, 30 for the guides, again GSF. The stem seals were in the top end gasket set i bought. And its costing £5 per valve guide to be fitted at the engineers (£40) plus £5 per valve to have new seats ground and the valves lapped in (£40). Not cheap, but if you're going to the bother of rebuilding an engine, definatley worth it. Plus the engineers advised that even if i had put it all back together, with no work and all the old parts, it most likely would have run rough. Just taking it apart upsets the engine i guess, wear patterns etc

hmm not soo bad on the prices

my valves look ok..one is pitted on the top part , dunno if thats ok to reuse

Cor, I paid £80 quid to have these fitted as inlets.

They're 36.2mm pinto exhaust valves costing under a fiver each.

That's with throat widening, seat cutting, valve guide reaming (as 8.02mm stem diameter, originals 7.98mm), re-facing.

- though I did all the dismantle and reassemble so add an extra £50 for a valve compressor.

This valves pictured looks like the stem seals were very worn.

is that somewhere local dvderlm ? I've stripped the head bare

think i needs new guides at least

is that somewhere local dvderlm ?

Yes.

Work done by Richard Head of

Head Racing Developments, Lancaster Way Business Park which is on A142 between Witchford and Ely.

Pressing guides out might be more costly cos of needing to heat the head, maybe?

He's done two Ford CVH heads for me before now first one due to seized water pump snapping cambelt. If it wasn't for that and HRD I'd never have bought a torque wrench and a socket set and later had the confidence to start mending the Polo.

when i rebuilt my gt head, i was told a good way to check for wear is to dip the valve stem in oil, place the tip of the valve into the guide, then let go and let it fall down into the guide, if it falls slowly with some resitance the guides are ok, if there is no resistance and the valve just falls then the guides need replacing, i no this is only a rough way of checking but its not that bad, i was told this by a well established engineer

when i rebuilt my gt head, i was told a good way to check for wear is to dip the valve stem in oil, place the tip of the valve into the guide, then let go and let it fall down into the guide, if it falls slowly with some resitance the guides are ok, if there is no resistance and the valve just falls then the guides need replacing, i no this is only a rough way of checking but its not that bad, i was told this by a well established engineer

tried the oil trick...the valve dropped like a good un , safe to assume they're worn me thinks

Make sure you measure which diameter valves you have there as later ones are 7mm (instead of 8) They are interchangeable in the head, with the appropriate size valve guides.

Cor, I paid £80 quid to have these fitted as inlets.

They're 36.2mm pinto exhaust valves costing under a fiver each.

That's with throat widening, seat cutting, valve guide reaming (as 8.02mm stem diameter, originals 7.98mm), re-facing.

- though I did all the dismantle and reassemble so add an extra £50 for a valve compressor.

This valves pictured looks like the stem seals were very worn.

Is that a GK head there david? You've got me interested about these bigger valves...