You know, Ive been doing this for almost 50 years. And Ive never seen another shop do this kind of straightening. In fact, numerous shops years back outright attacked me for doing it. Screaming and crying why the head needed machining. Ive seen the same kind of people on youtube. When you mill a head, IT DOESNT REMOVE THE FREAKING WARP! Not only will the camshaft will be off, but now you have thin and heavy areas of the head AT THE WATER JACKET! AND you have combustion chambers that will be smaller where more material was removed and larger chambers where material wasnt, which will cause additional tuning and performance imbalance. You will raise the compression ratio in 2 of the cylinders where the most material was removed. The list of issues immediate and long term are too long to list. All because of milling a warped head.
The way I was told at the engine shop I worked at, the head is warped so the cam bearings are now subject to heavy wear because the cylinder head is probably shaped like a Pringles potato chip. Shave the head , the cam bearing area is still warped and then it's all downhill from there. Straighten it first , and then shave it ,and you're only gonna shave enough to get a clean surface. I had an unwarped vw head like this ,and we cut the surface with the block grinder because of the hardened prechambers.
I used this method tonight on a 2.4 Ecotec engine and it worked great the head was out .013 I cannot fit a .003 feeler gauge under the straight edge now!!! Thank you for helping me get the wife's cylinder head back within factory specs!
Never thought about measuring the camshaft and that the whole head is bent! This is brilliant! Also the explanation why it bends makes totally sense! Thanks a lot!
You do some great work with very basic tools. My dad helped me grind a crank using a pack of over-sized bearings and valve grinding compound. We were 30 though out of round and I didn't have the money for the machine work. The guys in the shop (on a military base) said it wouldn't work but the crank came in true with only about 200 turns of the connecting rod on the journal. Put it together and I drove it for about 15K miles before I sold it. Keep up the great work.
I am 43 and I had a classmate in my auto-mechanics shop class in high school who had a 4 cylinder Mustang and he warped the head when he overheated the engine. Well, he brought the head to school and was outside one day on the concrete driveway sliding this cast iron head back and forth. In amazement, I asked what he was doing, to which he replied, “I’m shaving the head because it was warped”. I don't know just how warped it was or just how straight he got it in the end but I do know that he ended up putting it back on the engine and it ran fine. As far as I know he never did take it to a machine shop.
It's not about saving money on this job, rather it's about balancing the heat cycle stresses in the head. Quick and dirty repair is to machine the head... BUT like he says, that leaves the cam bores not parallel with the bottom of the head. This is one of those jobs where you get better at it the more often you do it. For the first time, take it easy and slowly get it straight.
@@Freeknickers24 Some would say that “ELECTRIC” is better. To that I say, “aww go screw yourself!!! Nobody wants an electric powered vehicle around here!!!”. Not to mention the fact that I love the smell of gas and oil burning!!! #LongLiveCombustionEngines!!!
I was going to initially just sand down a toyota 4Y forklift cylinder head. But knowing and having worked with heat straighening on steel column. This method sounds the most logical and you clearly showed it works! Great explanation too I never paid attention that sanding down would create tension on the camshaft. The more you know
A good day, thanks for sharing that God-given genius of yours with us. Way old-school . Did not know they made that special sanding paper. Going to have to obtain some! No Shop should be without it after seeing this. You are the man!!! have always expressed the more you do it the more you learn. Thanks again have a beautiful day look forward to more. Jim
Glad to see you put on them shades when the torch came out. I will turn off others torches on a jobsite if the idiot is brazing or cutting without spectacles. Thanks for sharing the info!
This is a nice informative video. In the 1980`s this was common practice prior to machining. I can remember doing Toyota cylinder heads it seemed like every one that had a over heat had cam alignment issues. In the Machine shop i started in every OHC head was straitened before resurfacing. Not exactly this method but same idea. One thing you did not mention is the absolute need to line hone the cam journals to restore cam alignment. Aluminum heads twist as well as warp. Straightening takes out cam journal height issues but dose not fix journal alignment issues. I misaligned cam journals can cause excessive journal wear, Low oil pressure, premature camshaft failure. Just as straightening is just one part of a repair to a warped head (always resurface after straightening) line honing cam journals should never be overlooked.
so those heads are prone to cracking between the valves , inspect this area closely , i've welded more than a few up and reinstalled new seats . also a head stud kit makes it much easier to get a slightly twisted head to seal up . a thicker head gasket can help seal a twisted head , but going from a 1 hole to a 3 hole head gasket also screws up on how the diesel burns in the combustion chamber and it will run with more black smoke .
This is a great way to keep budget builds in check ive never tried heating them before but I certainly will be giving this a go I use a similar method for sanding as well!! Great video thank you!!
This is actually the recommended way to straighten an ohc head , so you don't wipe the cam bearings out. Much love for the VW idi diesel too, great engines.
I've straightened a lot of stuff with heat and shrink methods. I never would have thought of straightening a cylinder head. I'll sure try it if I have a warped cylinder head.
For sanding heads, I use a lab certified granite block that is 3' x 4' with the kind of sandpaper used to make floor sander paper before it has been cut. Works great for both aluminum and cast iron because I can get about two feet of movement on the head.
I actually picked up a granite slab years ago to do this and found that it was about .005 out. Of course it wasn't lab certified. I then looked at a bunch of glass up to even 1/2-in thick and that wasn't flat either. Also the biggest problem is glass is super flexible and just bends to whatever surface you place it on. The flattest stuff I could find which was under .0015 was 3/4" MDF and melamine MDF.
@@sixtyfiveford they can be re flattened to .002 which is fine work it would probably cost about a $1000 to have it reground and yes they do that by hand with diamond dust.
@@sixtyfiveford Tool & Die maker 45 years we used granite surface plates ground to .002 had a surface plate tech every year to come to shop and regrind all plates to this spec.
I've seen using a piece of glass but using the oxy acetylene tank to take out most of the bow is an excellent idea that way you're only taking off as little as necessary
I tried a piece of glass years ago and found out they aren't really that flat. They also just bend to the workbench when you put 40# of cyl head on it. I had a 3/8in thick piece that I could get to bend .010+ without too much effort and thinner sheets 1/8in bend was easy. I then went and pickup up a piece of 1in+ thick granite and it was also .005 out of flat but didn't bend at all. Finally I found MDF and Melamine MDF and it was near flawless flat over 24in. I used that with great success.
That baby looks like my old 1’6. Diesel. VW . I did the exact same job , but sent the head out to a machine shop .nice motor to work on . I did notice the cam has a groove in the end for the cam gear but no key . Just bolted on to the tapered end . PS I think that pic up has a lot of potential and very economical .
I actually looked for a more powerful engine to swap in it as everybody says they're slow as molasses. But I think I'm okay with that if it gets as good as mileage as everyone says it does.
Outstanding. If you could find a nice sized chunk of slate from an old pool table, that'd work perfect for the sanding stage, assuming a warped block...
That is awesome. I have never taken an engine apart (Man Card Status: Under Investigation) and have great respect for all who have and possess a wealth of knowledge.
Great video. I do simular. I have acces to a press. so I just shim ends and pres it. For people not use to deal with aluminium. be very careful when heating. when you break through the oxide scale. Alu melt around only 700 degree c.
The vw gas engines like the 1.8 where bad for warping heads too. Always used to leak water and oil. New gasket. Head surfaces checked. 6 months later starts leaking again.
She got me good. I thought I could run into the post office for 90 seconds and not tell her to leave it. That's my mistake and she caught me and deserves it.
@@sixtyfiveford now, I don't have to tell Bear to leave it, he's been taught from a pup, even if I put a piece of bacon on his nose, it doesn't go in his mouth till I say "take it". I would have got back to the truck to find him laying with one paw and his chin on the bag, looking at me like "see dad, I saved it from having an escape... Can I have one now?" ;)
Thanks for sharing more priceless information👍 so far I've been lucky in that the only multi-cylinder heads I've re-used have been cast iron and were well within spec! I almost never check single cylinder heads or brand new aluminum units. So far so good. Your method makes perfect sense, if not more sense than milling if purely for the purpose of truing the surface!
Very interesting, this method and your directions certainly give me confidence to try and straighten the next head I have that is bowed. Thanks for posting.
Well .... straightened a lot of stuff, chrome shaft, circular saws ect ect, never even considered doing this...of course it works, why would it not? Bloody brilliance.
Such a smart dude man. I've learned a ton from you, and the way you explain your projects is so easy to comprehend thanks for your contribution sixtyfiveford
I'm not a great mechanic, just a pretty good backyard mechanic that's troubleshot a lot of problems. All your videos make perfect sense to me, thanks for posting them! And I'm guessing someone had a taste of jerky recently. 🤔
I had a head machined and installed then realized my cam wouldnt turn once torqued down. Thats when i found out thru UA-cam about head straitening. Did mine bolted ti the block with shims using 2 acetylene plumbing torches. Got it just hot enough by heating from both sides. Then had to have it machined again, which put it out of spec. I then had to buy 2 mls gaskets and make a custom thicker head gasket. Was a pain, but a head was as much as a used motor and I made it work.
I've had to do that to the cylinder heads before on cars and lawnmowers. People thought i was crazy till they seen it actually work without having to take the heads to a machine shop
A granite countertop place often has plug aka cutout or off pieces laying around and they're perfectly flat and make great sanding surfaces for heads and such...
I actually have a granite sink cut out I picked up just for this year's ago. Unfortunately if I recall it was about .005" out over 18" and wavy everywhere. Glass was the same but better. The problem with glass is even at 3/8 of an inch thick it bends to the contour of whatever you set it on. The flattest thing I found was MDF and melamine MDF.
Another great lesson , can you show how to make a electromagnetic nail picker upper to hang off an atv using parts from a microwave and a 5 k generator for power thanks TANK
Ingenious! You know a lot about the details. May i ask you for tipps tricks and opinion on oils greases and dry lubes? Future video? MoS2 grease on ballbearings did a astounding job in preventig wear. I am interested in bicycle, home and car topics.
Good work, but one problem is “got a little crazy on that one” with the torch. You don’t have to go all out on the flame, you can just run a carburizing flame which will still get more than sufficient heat into the aluminum without blowing a hole in it. And slightly “jiggle” your flame back and forth about 1” to reduce punching holes in the head. Those little divots are probably inconsequential, but cylinder heads on high performance or boosted applications can see very high pressures and that weak point could potentially cause problems. Bone stock Honda Civic, go for it! Dodge Hellcat..... perhaps not. 😂 But if you DO happen to blow a hole clean through it, just give it the ole’ Billy Mays FLEX TAPE slap! 😂
1st. Of all I commend you for this tutorial, it is a fine example/ demonstration of machining/mechanical expertise. Would I be right in assuming that you started out in a machine shop ? Seeing you using the gauges , shims and all brought back very good memories of my working in a couple of machine shops/factories, reading blue prints, machine center set ups all . Keep up the good work ! 😎
This video blew my mind and I love it!! I'm rebuilding my first car engine, a 93 Accord 2.2L F22A6, and the donor engine head has right at .005" warp in the middle going upwards like yours. I'd really love your advice. Placing it on the block without a head gasket, then barely hand tightened the middle two head bolts only, makes the warp disappear. Cam journals appear straight and cam spins smoothly. Should I just go for a light resurfacing with sandpaper then run it, or should I heat up the mating surface and try and get a bit more of the warp out? Thanks for the amazing video!
That was impressive, the head gaskets come in different thicknesses, be sure to get the right one . On the edge of the gasket near where the oil passes through the block to the head there will be some notches indicating the thickness. The head looks great the only thing that is worrisome is in the first video you dumped a bunch of dirt into the injectors, you will need to take them apart and clean them.
Yes, they have been thoroughly cleaned since then. Yeah this is a three notch but I even double checked the piston protrusion to make sure as a lot of times shops just put on the thickest and leave it at that.
Yeah I actually had to clean them twice. I cleaned them while I was waiting for the engine to unstick and then I dumped all the junk in them so I just cleaned them again last week.
Great job Moe. Perhaps next video you can show how to splice a broken winch cable together..or really I need to shorten my trans shifter cable, which has braided steel cable inside, as my engine swap needs one 1ft shorter. I thought of you when I needed to do this, no help on youtube or google!
I've seen Daniel Soliz and you use this technique. I believe your readings before and after for the top but don't see how just heating those six thin sections could have changed the bottom flatness. An oven might seem more likely to heat the whole head evenly and unwarp it more thoroughly (with end shims and bolted to a thick plate).
Yes, that's essentially what the machine shops will do. 450F but you need to bolt it to a huge chunk of straight steel. You need to strip the block down bare as well.
I've had so many problems with blown head gaskets since they started putting aluminium heads on steel blocks. I'm 70 now, and in the 50's,60' & 70's we rarely had head gasket/warped head problems. It just isn't worth the major aggravation it causes to save a little weight. What do you think?
Can this work on Aluminium engines. And after sanding the mating surface in the case of an aluminum cylinder head what’s the most appropriate cylinder gasket to use. Metallic or graphite?
Someone forgot to say don't eat this and V.W. had a factory bow in the diesel heads to get them to seat with the head gasket and keep the cam straight but I had to retorque the heads on mine because they were leaking. Just took one bolt out at a time, oiled and retorqued to 115. Nary a bubble after that. So if everything is flat and you torque from the inside out, it ought to be fine. Thanks, Buddy and GBWYall! And the one bolt at a time and oil it came from the ACE Mack wrench man. If it'd work on a Mack it'll work on a V-dub!
You know, Ive been doing this for almost 50 years. And Ive never seen another shop do this kind of straightening. In fact, numerous shops years back outright attacked me for doing it. Screaming and crying why the head needed machining. Ive seen the same kind of people on youtube. When you mill a head, IT DOESNT REMOVE THE FREAKING WARP!
Not only will the camshaft will be off, but now you have thin and heavy areas of the head AT THE WATER JACKET! AND you have combustion chambers that will be smaller where more material was removed and larger chambers where material wasnt, which will cause additional tuning and performance imbalance. You will raise the compression ratio in 2 of the cylinders where the most material was removed. The list of issues immediate and long term are too long to list. All because of milling a warped head.
That's fantastic, I'm glad I'm not the only one that sees it this way!
You make some very good arguments, for not machining it straight, I’ve always wondered aboutThose issues that you talked about
Iv never seen this method how cool Iv had to use shims on diesel heads because of machining I'll have to try this method
Machine shops must hate you😆
The way I was told at the engine shop I worked at, the head is warped so the cam bearings are now subject to heavy wear because the cylinder head is probably shaped like a Pringles potato chip.
Shave the head , the cam bearing area is still warped and then it's all downhill from there.
Straighten it first , and then shave it ,and you're only gonna shave enough to get a clean surface.
I had an unwarped vw head like this ,and we cut the surface with the block grinder because of the hardened prechambers.
Omg a guy that actually fixes things instead of replacing. Well done sir!
remove your temostat you dont need to do this job anymore...in hot weather-
if cold comes is easy cover your radiator.. hi five..
Thumbs up for adding metric measurements.
Thanks Man
I used this method tonight on a 2.4 Ecotec engine and it worked great the head was out .013 I cannot fit a .003 feeler gauge under the straight edge now!!! Thank you for helping me get the wife's cylinder head back within factory specs!
LOL I'm proud of him . whoever taught him that tech must be super old school . 👍
People think it can't be done without huge machines, but lathe beds on the very best lathes are scraped flat by hand with a scraper and dye.
Never thought about measuring the camshaft and that the whole head is bent! This is brilliant! Also the explanation why it bends makes totally sense! Thanks a lot!
This is remarkable skill for a DIY head calibration job, I enjoyed this! Learned quite a bit
Hey thanks Man
I like seeing Old School Backyard on the Farm Machining
Hey thanks
You do some great work with very basic tools. My dad helped me grind a crank using a pack of over-sized bearings and valve grinding compound. We were 30 though out of round and I didn't have the money for the machine work. The guys in the shop (on a military base) said it wouldn't work but the crank came in true with only about 200 turns of the connecting rod on the journal. Put it together and I drove it for about 15K miles before I sold it. Keep up the great work.
That's an awesome story.
@@sixtyfiveford Should do a myth buster on that !
I am 43 and I had a classmate in my auto-mechanics shop class in high school who had a 4 cylinder Mustang and he warped the head when he overheated the engine. Well, he brought the head to school and was outside one day on the concrete driveway sliding this cast iron head back and forth. In amazement, I asked what he was doing, to which he replied, “I’m shaving the head because it was warped”. I don't know just how warped it was or just how straight he got it in the end but I do know that he ended up putting it back on the engine and it ran fine. As far as I know he never did take it to a machine shop.
Yeah buddy 👍🤠
Been doing this for 30 years after an old machine shop owner from Hungry showed me this easy procedure
Awesome.
I’m impressed. I’m sure a machine shop foreman will shake his head. Obviously this method needs care to detect and avoid lateral warping. Well done.
Thanks.
I came back to this video to watch it again. We are lucky to have your channel !
Hey Thanks.
I've been wrenching for 20 years and I've never seen this.
Thank you for very educational video.
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.
I've never seen anything like that before. Brilliant. 👍
this is why I sub! alternative DIY methods to crazy expensive regular tasks
Hey thanks, I'm glad you liked it.
It's not about saving money on this job, rather it's about balancing the heat cycle stresses in the head. Quick and dirty repair is to machine the head... BUT like he says, that leaves the cam bores not parallel with the bottom of the head.
This is one of those jobs where you get better at it the more often you do it. For the first time, take it easy and slowly get it straight.
Nicely done Bud!! It don't get any better than that!!☺
Cast iron is better 🤣
Titanium is better
@@Freeknickers24
Some would say that “ELECTRIC” is better.
To that I say, “aww go screw yourself!!! Nobody wants an electric powered vehicle around here!!!”. Not to mention the fact that I love the smell of gas and oil burning!!!
#LongLiveCombustionEngines!!!
I was going to initially just sand down a toyota 4Y forklift cylinder head. But knowing and having worked with heat straighening on steel column. This method sounds the most logical and you clearly showed it works! Great explanation too I never paid attention that sanding down would create tension on the camshaft. The more you know
That was excellent tutorial on straightening the head. So many are done wrong. That’s the correct way and easy. Nice!
A good day, thanks for sharing that God-given genius of yours with us. Way old-school . Did not know they made that special sanding paper. Going to have to obtain some! No Shop should be without it after seeing this. You are the man!!! have always expressed the more you do it the more you learn. Thanks again have a beautiful day look forward to more. Jim
Very intelligent. I will never, in all my life, do this, but I really enjoyed watching it anyway.
I have often wondered if machine shops took into consideration the parallelism of cam journals,glad to know someone e is paying attention.
Glad to see you put on them shades when the torch came out. I will turn off others torches on a jobsite if the idiot is brazing or cutting without spectacles. Thanks for sharing the info!
This is a nice informative video. In the 1980`s this was common practice prior to machining. I can remember doing Toyota cylinder heads it seemed like every one that had a over heat had cam alignment issues. In the Machine shop i started in every OHC head was straitened before resurfacing. Not exactly this method but same idea. One thing you did not mention is the absolute need to line hone the cam journals to restore cam alignment. Aluminum heads twist as well as warp. Straightening takes out cam journal height issues but dose not fix journal alignment issues. I misaligned cam journals can cause excessive journal wear, Low oil pressure, premature camshaft failure. Just as straightening is just one part of a repair to a warped head (always resurface after straightening) line honing cam journals should never be overlooked.
Dave Rebello told me how to do this decades ago. Never tried it and it's nice to actually see it performed. Very cool!
so those heads are prone to cracking between the valves , inspect this area closely , i've welded more than a few up and reinstalled new seats .
also a head stud kit makes it much easier to get a slightly twisted head to seal up .
a thicker head gasket can help seal a twisted head , but going from a 1 hole to a 3 hole head gasket also screws up on how the diesel burns in the combustion chamber and it will run with more black smoke .
This is a great way to keep budget builds in check ive never tried heating them before but I certainly will be giving this a go I use a similar method for sanding as well!! Great video thank you!!
Thanks man, you're awesome!
This is actually the recommended way to straighten an ohc head , so you don't wipe the cam bearings out.
Much love for the VW idi diesel too, great engines.
Your method improves upon other DIY techniques I've seen. Well done!
Hey Thanks.
Very educational on entire job. I learned so much and love when all jobs can be done in house.Thank you!
I have sanded heads but i like this idea more. Thanks again for the fun and knowledge.
I've straightened a lot of stuff with heat and shrink methods. I never would have thought of straightening a cylinder head. I'll sure try it if I have a warped cylinder head.
Blown away bud. Genius!! Ive used precision ground stones super fine takes forever. Heating the head to relieve tension tho genius! So impressed.
For sanding heads, I use a lab certified granite block that is 3' x 4' with the kind of sandpaper used to make floor sander paper before it has been cut. Works great for both aluminum and cast iron because I can get about two feet of movement on the head.
I actually picked up a granite slab years ago to do this and found that it was about .005 out. Of course it wasn't lab certified. I then looked at a bunch of glass up to even 1/2-in thick and that wasn't flat either. Also the biggest problem is glass is super flexible and just bends to whatever surface you place it on. The flattest stuff I could find which was under .0015 was 3/4" MDF and melamine MDF.
@@sixtyfiveford never would've guessed MDF out of those materials!
@@sixtyfiveford they can be re flattened to .002 which is fine work it would probably cost about a $1000 to have it reground and yes they do that by hand with diamond dust.
@@sixtyfiveford Tool & Die maker 45 years we used granite surface plates ground to .002 had a surface plate tech every year to come to shop and regrind all plates to this spec.
Amazing you you know exactly where to heat it, pro mechanic tip right there
I've seen using a piece of glass but using the oxy acetylene tank to take out most of the bow is an excellent idea that way you're only taking off as little as necessary
I tried a piece of glass years ago and found out they aren't really that flat. They also just bend to the workbench when you put 40# of cyl head on it. I had a 3/8in thick piece that I could get to bend .010+ without too much effort and thinner sheets 1/8in bend was easy. I then went and pickup up a piece of 1in+ thick granite and it was also .005 out of flat but didn't bend at all. Finally I found MDF and Melamine MDF and it was near flawless flat over 24in. I used that with great success.
That baby looks like my old 1’6. Diesel. VW . I did the exact same job , but sent the head out to a machine shop .nice motor to work on . I did notice the cam has a groove in the end for the cam gear but no key . Just bolted on to the tapered end . PS I think that pic up has a lot of potential and very economical .
I actually looked for a more powerful engine to swap in it as everybody says they're slow as molasses. But I think I'm okay with that if it gets as good as mileage as everyone says it does.
Never would have thought of this. Makes sense though.
Thanks Robert.
I dig all your videos buddy, everyday shit with everyday answers. No machine shop or custom stuff just everyday solutions.
Outstanding. If you could find a nice sized chunk of slate from an old pool table, that'd work perfect for the sanding stage, assuming a warped block...
Yeah I've seen this done before with a half inch glass plate sitting on a steel table with sandpaper taped to it. Great video and good tips as always
Thanks!
Great technique. Looking forward to more VW videos.
You're awesome, thanks man
I remember seeing this on Faye Hadley channel as well pretty awesome
That is awesome. I have never taken an engine apart (Man Card Status: Under Investigation) and have great respect for all who have and possess a wealth of knowledge.
Hey thanks. It's not as fun as it looks. The fun part is when it starts for the first time and that could be enjoyed by anyone.
Great video. I do simular. I have acces to a press. so I just shim ends and pres it. For people not use to deal with aluminium. be very careful when heating. when you break through the oxide scale. Alu melt around only 700 degree c.
That's awesome.
The vw gas engines like the 1.8 where bad for warping heads too. Always used to leak water and oil. New gasket. Head surfaces checked. 6 months later starts leaking again.
You sir, have officially been crowned "King of Frugality".
Nice job Ginger. I mean sixtyfiveford a money saving tip 👍. I say all those tricks over the years you owe me one bag of treats 😉.
She got me good. I thought I could run into the post office for 90 seconds and not tell her to leave it. That's my mistake and she caught me and deserves it.
@@sixtyfiveford now, I don't have to tell Bear to leave it, he's been taught from a pup, even if I put a piece of bacon on his nose, it doesn't go in his mouth till I say "take it". I would have got back to the truck to find him laying with one paw and his chin on the bag, looking at me like "see dad, I saved it from having an escape... Can I have one now?" ;)
GREAT JOB, I NEVER SAW THIS FIX BEFORE, I WOULD HAVE TAKEN IT TO A MACHINE SHOP, VALUABLE LESSON LEARNED, FOR THIS OLD DOG..!!!
Awesome Video! I've done a few Subaru heads by flat sanding. Have to try the torch method on the one I have coming up. Makes perfect sense. Thanks!
WOW! That was some serious good-looking job! I hope you are proud of it, to say the least. Congratulations!
That is an artist at work , you truly understand the processes , fantastic share thank you 😊
Thanks for sharing more priceless information👍 so far I've been lucky in that the only multi-cylinder heads I've re-used have been cast iron and were well within spec! I almost never check single cylinder heads or brand new aluminum units. So far so good. Your method makes perfect sense, if not more sense than milling if purely for the purpose of truing the surface!
Thank you!
It seems to me like it needs heated as a full unit after that technique to release the i internal pressures to prevent re-warping and/or cracking.
Very interesting, this method and your directions certainly give me confidence to try and straighten the next head I have that is bowed. Thanks for posting.
Thanks Man.
Thanks for the metric conversions for the whole rest of the world!
Or, as Jeremy Clarkson once said, " In Roman Catholic ".
Well .... straightened a lot of stuff, chrome shaft, circular saws ect ect, never even considered doing this...of course it works, why would it not? Bloody brilliance.
We did this technique in a engine shop and it works great but we still surfaced after straightening👍
Great point!
Glad u Ford guys know how to keep your trucks running w/o breaking the bank
Such a smart dude man. I've learned a ton from you, and the way you explain your projects is so easy to comprehend thanks for your contribution sixtyfiveford
Wow, thanks Jason. -Moe
Awesome job with the rewarping
We used this method too. You have to be very careful as head can bent side ways too
I'm not a great mechanic, just a pretty good backyard mechanic that's troubleshot a lot of problems. All your videos make perfect sense to me, thanks for posting them!
And I'm guessing someone had a taste of jerky recently. 🤔
Hey Thanks, I'm glad you like them.
My mind is blown, thanks for sharing
You're awesome, thanks Man
I had a head machined and installed then realized my cam wouldnt turn once torqued down. Thats when i found out thru UA-cam about head straitening. Did mine bolted ti the block with shims using 2 acetylene plumbing torches. Got it just hot enough by heating from both sides. Then had to have it machined again, which put it out of spec. I then had to buy 2 mls gaskets and make a custom thicker head gasket. Was a pain, but a head was as much as a used motor and I made it work.
Clever! Great work bud! The kind of old school ingenuity lost on a generation.
Glad you liked it! Engine has a few thousand miles on it since I did this.
I've had to do that to the cylinder heads before on cars and lawnmowers. People thought i was crazy till they seen it actually work without having to take the heads to a machine shop
Awesome.
I learned it from a lawnmower shop also
A granite countertop place often has plug aka cutout or off pieces laying around and they're perfectly flat and make great sanding surfaces for heads and such...
I actually have a granite sink cut out I picked up just for this year's ago. Unfortunately if I recall it was about .005" out over 18" and wavy everywhere. Glass was the same but better. The problem with glass is even at 3/8 of an inch thick it bends to the contour of whatever you set it on. The flattest thing I found was MDF and melamine MDF.
@@sixtyfiveford
I'm glad you pointed this out, that's the reason the granite surface plates that machine shops use are so expensive.
Another great lesson , can you show how to make a electromagnetic nail picker upper to hang off an atv using parts from a microwave and a 5 k generator for power thanks TANK
I've had one of those on my bucket list for quite a while.
Great trick for resurfacing ! Great video . thanks!
i always walk away from your videos a little bit wiser. great tip
Hey thanks! And for watching!
Ingenious! You know a lot about the details. May i ask you for tipps tricks and opinion on oils greases and dry lubes? Future video? MoS2 grease on ballbearings did a astounding job in preventig wear. I am interested in bicycle, home and car topics.
Slick trick, Moe. You always amaze me.
You're awesome, thanks George.
Oh my I would've never have thought of that! Did you come up with it yourself? This is the quality content ive subbed for
Good technique on the straightening. My only question is how do you keep that grit out of the engine, or is that what the oil filter is for?
Good work, but one problem is “got a little crazy on that one” with the torch. You don’t have to go all out on the flame, you can just run a carburizing flame which will still get more than sufficient heat into the aluminum without blowing a hole in it. And slightly “jiggle” your flame back and forth about 1” to reduce punching holes in the head. Those little divots are probably inconsequential, but cylinder heads on high performance or boosted applications can see very high pressures and that weak point could potentially cause problems. Bone stock Honda Civic, go for it! Dodge Hellcat..... perhaps not. 😂
But if you DO happen to blow a hole clean through it, just give it the ole’ Billy Mays FLEX TAPE slap! 😂
1st. Of all I commend you for this tutorial, it is a fine example/ demonstration of machining/mechanical expertise. Would I be right in assuming that you started out in a machine shop ? Seeing you using the gauges , shims and all brought back very good memories of my working in a couple of machine shops/factories, reading blue prints, machine center set ups all . Keep up the good work ! 😎
You’re expertise in so many different things is amazing. 👍🏻🎥🏴☠️❤️👨🏭
Hey thanks
This video blew my mind and I love it!! I'm rebuilding my first car engine, a 93 Accord 2.2L F22A6, and the donor engine head has right at .005" warp in the middle going upwards like yours. I'd really love your advice. Placing it on the block without a head gasket, then barely hand tightened the middle two head bolts only, makes the warp disappear. Cam journals appear straight and cam spins smoothly. Should I just go for a light resurfacing with sandpaper then run it, or should I heat up the mating surface and try and get a bit more of the warp out? Thanks for the amazing video!
That was impressive, the head gaskets come in different thicknesses, be sure to get the right one . On the edge of the gasket near where the oil passes through the block to the head there will be some notches indicating the thickness. The head looks great the only thing that is worrisome is in the first video you dumped a bunch of dirt into the injectors, you will need to take them apart and clean them.
Yes, they have been thoroughly cleaned since then. Yeah this is a three notch but I even double checked the piston protrusion to make sure as a lot of times shops just put on the thickest and leave it at that.
@@sixtyfiveford good to hear.
Yeah I actually had to clean them twice. I cleaned them while I was waiting for the engine to unstick and then I dumped all the junk in them so I just cleaned them again last week.
Great job Moe. Perhaps next video you can show how to splice a broken winch cable together..or really I need to shorten my trans shifter cable, which has braided steel cable inside, as my engine swap needs one 1ft shorter. I thought of you when I needed to do this, no help on youtube or google!
I like it. Hey I was watching your bolt extension video. Can you show us how to harden all thread to make long bolt. Right on love the VW series.
Very cool!! I must have missed the truck. I’ll look for it now.
Thanks Brad
I've seen Daniel Soliz and you use this technique. I believe your readings before and after for the top but don't see how just heating those six thin sections could have changed the bottom flatness. An oven might seem more likely to heat the whole head evenly and unwarp it more thoroughly (with end shims and bolted to a thick plate).
Cool Tech Moe. I saw the latest video then came to watch this.
Nice... I wonder if you can just place the head in the oven for a bit to get it hot enouth to straightening it.
Yes, that's essentially what the machine shops will do. 450F but you need to bolt it to a huge chunk of straight steel. You need to strip the block down bare as well.
That bloody fixed it.
Never would have thought of doing that. Ingenious!
Ginger..."but you still love me, right?"
Uh oh! Doggy is in trouble 😂 Great video!
I recognized the Vw diesel from the thumbnail and had to watch.
Hell yeah dude.
Much love for mk1s.
How would we call a bannana upside down or upside up? Is it with the convex up and concave down or convex down and concave up?🤔
I've had so many problems with blown head gaskets since they started putting aluminium heads on steel blocks. I'm 70 now, and in the 50's,60' & 70's we rarely had head gasket/warped head problems. It just isn't worth the major aggravation it causes to save a little weight.
What do you think?
I'm 100% with you.
Can this work on Aluminium engines. And after sanding the mating surface in the case of an aluminum cylinder head what’s the most appropriate cylinder gasket to use. Metallic or graphite?
Yes, this works with aluminum engine blocks. I generally go with the composite graphite gaskets, but I have no real preference.
So after this process of resurfacing you saying one can still use a metallic gasket
Someone forgot to say don't eat this and V.W. had a factory bow in the diesel heads to get them to seat with the head gasket and keep the cam straight but I had to retorque the heads on mine because they were leaking. Just took one bolt out at a time, oiled and retorqued to 115. Nary a bubble after that. So if everything is flat and you torque from the inside out, it ought to be fine. Thanks, Buddy and GBWYall! And the one bolt at a time and oil it came from the ACE Mack wrench man. If it'd work on a Mack it'll work on a V-dub!
I did forget to say don't eat it. I thought the minute and a half in the post office wasn't ample time to get into the bag. Boy was I wrong.
@@sixtyfiveford She sort of takes after someone else that I know that is..............well, shall we say intense?? Lets say intense.
I think *most* head gaskets will compress around 4 thousandths, so 2 is definitely safe.
Paint that bump side cab lol Ferd tough great vid
Excellent instructional video thank you for sharing your knowledge 👍
Awesome, good old school trick
Thanks Man.
Nice work on an old MK1 golf Diesel motor.
Hey thanks
I've never seen that, usually I see people doing a lot of sanding. That bent back so straight.