BIg Block Chevy head work, just in case anyone was wondering..

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QBuff02

I like Big Blocks and I cannot lie
Supporting Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2017
Posts
867
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Location
Central IL
First Name
Quincy
Truck Year
1982
Truck Model
K30
Engine Size
454
So there was some debate at the machine shop about putting in larger over sized hardened valve seats on my 049 Big Oval Big Block Chevy heads. One guy says you're likely to hit water if you do it, so to be safe and use a thinner seat and don't cut the pocket so deep, another shop says he does it all the time with no issues, and my engine guy says he's done them for stock size valve seat replacement, but he's never machined them out for 1.88 exhaust valves with the meatier seats. and with how he wants to cut the valve angles in to help them breathe he doesn't want to use the smaller, thinner seat because he didn't feel they'd be 100% when he was done. So where we were sitting was, there wasn't much exhaust seat left in stock form with my heads already cut for larger 1.88 exhaust valves, and they'd been beat down into the head quite a ways, so far, that by the time he cleaned them up to make them "right" the exhaust valves would be recessed like .100 and thats waaaay too far! So we were going to machine them for hardened valve seats but it was going to be 50/50 that there'd be enough "meat left on the bone" once the pockets were cut in. So my response was "cut em!" because if there's no saving them, then the heads are already junk, right? and it would be a shame to let these heads go with some of the work they already had done by previous owner. So, last night, my engine builder set them up in the machine and we proceeded to cut the pockets out for the oversized seats. needless to say, they all cut without hitting "water" and there was plenty of meat left over to spare! Pressed the new seats in and we're back on track to finish the rest of the machine work on these babies and maybe get this thing put back together soooon! Lol
:driver:

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