[GhostyDog]

Hi,

My car has been exhibiting signs of worn valve guides for a while now, I investigated the costs with a few local(ish) specialists and numbers came out wildly variable from around £700 to £2000

I've seen this company on eBay advertising head refurb services, obviously a big chunk of the money saved is likely in removal and reinstallation (which I have no idea whether I'm capable of).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Alfa-Rome...503973?hash=item3ac3592ae5:g:0uIAAOSwYmZXMlWm

Has anyone used them before or know anything about them?

Cheers

Sean

 

[swallow]

Hi Sean - If I can do it, you can do it - I'd never taken apart a (car) engine before tackling mine, admittedly it was out of the car, which might have made things easier but following all the available youtube guides, how-to's etc on the alfabb it wasn't rocket science. The biggest hurdle for me was actually getting over the fear of the unknown and getting started.

Once you've got the head off, a cheapo valve compressor tool from ebay (£20) makes stripping the head quite straight forward. Then you'll have a head that you can send off to anywhere by courier for the work to be done. The chap I used here, took out the old guides, cleaned, vapour blasted the head and re-installled new valve guides & also skimmed the head a fraction - all in for a couple of hundred quid from memory - Home | Engine Component Reconditioning & Modification | Oxon | Gardias Engine Services Ltd

 

[ian145]

Sean have you tried https://www.yell.com/biz/w-brown-halifax-ltd-halifax-1037728/, local firm been going since Adam was a lad.

 

[GhostyDog]

Hi Sean - If I can do it, you can do it - I'd never taken apart a (car) engine before tackling mine, admittedly it was out of the car, which might have made things easier but following all the available youtube guides, how-to's etc on the alfabb it wasn't rocket science. The biggest hurdle for me was actually getting over the fear of the unknown and getting started.

Once you've got the head off, a cheapo valve compressor tool from ebay (£20) makes stripping the head quite straight forward. Then you'll have a head that you can send off to anywhere by courier for the work to be done. The chap I used here, took out the old guides, cleaned, vapour blasted the head and re-installled new valve guides & also skimmed the head a fraction - all in for a couple of hundred quid from memory - Home | Engine Component Reconditioning & Modification | Oxon | Gardias Engine Services Ltd

Thanks, not sure about that as I store the car at work and if it can't be driven that might cause issues.

Sean have you tried https://www.yell.com/biz/w-brown-halifax-ltd-halifax-1037728/, local firm been going since Adam was a lad.

I saw them Ian but on yell it says Crankshaft Grinding so I discounted them.

Have you used them yourself?

Cheers

Sean

 

[swallow]

Or, as an alternative - source another cylinder head from eBay and have the work done on that, so new guides/valves/seals and then you will be able to do a quicker switch over?