DIY Cylinder Head Resurfacing

"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro) 08/21/2018 at 23:30 • Filed to: wrenching, machining, DIY, car repair

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Amazing. I always thought that a warped head meant a trip to the machine shop. It never even crossed my mind that you could ever get good results trying to resurface it yourself. I’m impressed by this guy’s technique.

jimz > Urambo Tauro 08/21/2018 at 20:58

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a buddy of mine had a boat with a thrashed old V4 Johnson 2 stroke. it blew a head gasket, so we tore it down. the fire ring area of the head with the blown gasket was pitted, so we looked up the service manual. the procedure for resurfacing the head was literally “glue a piece of 200 grit sandpaper to a flat piece of glass, and move the chamber side of the cylinder head across it in a figure-8 pattern until there are no more shiny spots.  Repeat with 600 grit. ”

Future Heap Owner > Urambo Tauro 08/21/2018 at 21:07

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Oldskool funk is my boy!

His Stigness > Urambo Tauro 08/21/2018 at 21:16

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When I discovered a tiny puddle of coolant under my Mercedes and found it was the head gasket, I went against everyone’s “recommendation” to just put the head gasket shit. I wanted to do it right. I’m weird like that. And with that same drive for wanting to do it right, I sent my cylinder head out to a shop that only does Mercedes engines, and does work for dealers all over the country. They’re the shit. But they also cost over twice as much as the local shops. But that was money well spent for the piece of mind.

So having said that, I cringe at the above video. BUT! If it works, that’s great. It’s a hell of a lot better than just slapping a new gasket on and calling it a day, you know, like most people.

aberson Bresident of the FullyAssed Committe > Urambo Tauro 08/21/2018 at 21:45

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haha i was just thinking of this video earlier today, basically the same philosophy as working lead flat with a straight file.

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > Urambo Tauro 08/21/2018 at 22:05

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Depends on the tolerances and the head gasket. If the head gasket can fill the space, you don’t have to be +-0.01mm across the head surface. On some engines, that’s too  flat, and will result in problems. On others, the FSM will say “yeah, there’s supposed to be a curve of N mm over Y mm located at these points so make sure your machine shop does that or the car will eat your first born child.”

tromoly > Urambo Tauro 08/21/2018 at 23:03

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A local engine builder uses a surface plate, same technique just a surface that is more likely to be flatter for longer than wood.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > Urambo Tauro 08/22/2018 at 07:08

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I’ve found taking it into work and mowing .100" off each head does wonders for getting them flat and giving more power.....

brianbrannon > Urambo Tauro 08/22/2018 at 15:17

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It worked on my Outback 

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness 08/22/2018 at 15:56

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 so what kind of mower do you use for that? Old snapper? 

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Urambo Tauro 08/22/2018 at 15:59

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I’m going to watch this later when my lunch isn’t tw o minutes from over. But I suspect there are a ton of caveats he’s not mentioning. Not only that but I see a massive flaw with his plan just in the thumbnail.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 08/22/2018 at 16:02

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Close..........

One of these works wonders:

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness 08/22/2018 at 17:01

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That’s probably better than most engine machine shops!

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 08/23/2018 at 07:06

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I would have used our S56 Makino, but I prefer the space the Tree has.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Urambo Tauro 08/23/2018 at 15:53

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I finally got around to watching this...

Lololololololololololololololololololol 

No. Just no. I didn’t even make it halfway through and I already can’t even remember all the issues I found with this. I’ll just say that this will only work with thick composite gaskets, not embossed steel, not MLS. But then you still have to worry about all the material coming off of the sandpaper and hope it doesn’t get into the engine, for instance into the piston rings. And that .004" would have been taken up by most composite gaskets anyways. So what’s the point?

Urambo Tauro > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 08/23/2018 at 17:02

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What did you see in the thu mbnail?

Urambo Tauro > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 08/23/2018 at 17:02

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didn’t even make it halfway through

Did you get to the part where t he sandpaper was s tationary on flat glass , and he was moving the head across it? I felt better about that than the board he was using in the first half.

But yeah I don’t like how he skippe d over the whole cleanup aspect. He was so careful about checking it with a feeler gauge and stressing not to exceed the indicators, but when it came to cleanup a ll he did was beat the head with a rag a few times. Maybe he’s assuming that his viewers are already mechanically inclined to dig this far into an engine , and would know all about the importance of cleanliness already .

And you’re right- this won’t work for all applications. I wish he’d have pointed that out first to let viewers know what to look for before getting carried away.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Urambo Tauro 08/23/2018 at 20:15

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Rulers aren't straight edges.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Urambo Tauro 08/23/2018 at 20:29

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Yeah I skipped ahead to it when I got sick of his stupid w ood block idea. But that’s also a flawed premise. Glass warps. Especially if it’s not tempered.

Beating it with a rag!  That was my favorite part! It was hilarious! But completely ineffective. And you can’t make assumptions about people’s knowledge on YouTube. I mean we’ve all seen the comments section.

This would work really well for Briggs lawnmower engines because the tolerances in those are... Well, I'm not entirely sure they have tolerances. 

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Urambo Tauro 08/23/2018 at 20:44

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I’ve got to add that this will absolutely work for a lot of engines. But he doesn’t talk about a lot of what it takes to make that happen. Properly straight work surface and the ability to clean impeccably, as well as the person doing it needs to have some technical skill and critical thinking skills. There are a ton of places this can go wrong. And unless you already have all this stuff lying around, most machine shops will charge less to resurface a head than what all these materials will cost.