[lwhitetrash88l]

so im taking my heads tomorrow to a machine shop....what kind of prices should i belooking to expect tomorrow. i wanna see if they have been warped/ cracked and also if so then resurface them. also....my vehicle is a 96 so i was wondering if it would be worth doing a valve job on at the same time.....and if so what kind of price should i expect on that? and is it true if i get the heads grinded down a lil bit it will increase my compression which will give me better performance out of my motor? any other suggestions or comments would be appreciated. thanks

Rich

[stephen]

I have a receipt at home for the 99 Mustang V6 valve job. I'll try to remember to send that information.

As I recall it was ~$100 to surface the heads and about that much to do a valve job and a Victor gasket set was ~$130. Victor developed the MLS gasket for this engine and it is a good gasket set to use.

The surface finish is critical for an MLS gasket and also you need to carefully clean up the block gasket surface (with something like 280 grit emery paper followed with wiping it down with lacquer thinner).

[stephen]

I should answer your questions.

Q.
[quote="lwhitetrash88l"]so im taking my heads tomorrow to a machine shop....what kind of prices should i belooking to expect tomorrow. i wanna see if they have been warped/ cracked and also if so then resurface them. also....my vehicle is a 96 so i was wondering if it would be worth doing a valve job on at the same time.....and if so what kind of price should i expect on that?

A. If the head gaskets failed you can be sure that the heads need to be surfaced. They would anyway because you will be going to na MLS gasket which requires a smoother finish than the original equipment type gasket.
Be sure the machine shop can produce the required surface finish for an MLS gasket.

You should definately get a valve job while the heads are out.

Q. and is it true if i get the heads grinded down a lil bit it will increase my compression which will give me better performance out of my motor?

A. If the heads are milled down it will increase compression. I wouldn't recommend taking off any more than the bare minimum to restore the surface. Increasing the compression could lead to preignition and require a higher grade of fuel. I doubt there would be any significant performance gain.

I would recommend removing as much carbon as possible from the piston tops. If you put oil on them and let it soak in overnight it should be possible to remove it with a putty knife or similar tool followed by oil and emery cloth. Do this with each piston about 1" down in the bore and vacuum out the carbon. You don't want it getting in the rings or water jacket/oil passageways etc. Finally oil the cylinder walls and turn the engine followed by wiping them down with a clean rag to get small bits of carbon out of the region above the top ring.