Honestly, I'm confused by your accusations. How is this the machine shop's fault?
You paid $250, which to me sounds like a standard dealio valve-and-seat grind. And then you complain about 0.004" stem height difference, calling it "all over the place" and "shitty work" for a $250 valve & seat grind?
Do you know the history of the heads prior to your aquisition of them and what the chamber volumes were beforehand? Why are the differences in chamber volume the responsibility of the machine shop? Did you ask for--and pay them--to cc your heads and match the chamber volumes? And how are chamber volumes instantly indicative of "shitty work" when you even note that there are not indications that anyting like this occurred? Do you understand casting pattern and mold setup and how chamber volumes--even within a given cylinder head--can vary so much as perhaps 7-8 cc's as cast? That wouldn't be the machine shops fault, would it? Did you really expect to get a racing, "swiss watch" valve & seat grind and cc'd heads for a measely 250 bones? If we did such for a customer, the cost for chamber volume matching and a valve job to the specs that you are insisting upon might be closer to $1000 than it would be to $250.
Honestly, I not coming on here to toss a stick in your spokes; I do feel a reality check is in order. I am honestly perplexed at 1) how you can be so infuriated by the workmanship relative to what you paid (it sounds about right to me, and there's nothing wrong with that), and, 2) that you would be blasting it all over the internet instead of objectively evaluating what you have and how to move forward so as to bring the heads to the specs that are to your liking.
Probably the best thing you did is purchase your own cylinder head equirpment so that you may machine your heads to the tolerances that you desire. By the way, I think that you're going to be suprised at the labor involved to meet your strict guidelines and also surpised at the loose "tolerances" of the performance parts (as delivered) that you check out, such as the chamber volume variation that you noted. If the performance parts suppliers took the time to set all their tolerances to less than "0.004" or cc their head's chamber volumes to all have chambers within less than, say 0.4 cc, the workmanship of those heads out-of-the-box would be better than 80% of the consumers would need and also have workmanship executed that would dictate they price themsleves out of 80% of the consumer market as a result.
LO
Hi Lakes...your points all have merit. Let me further qualify my attitude toward this particular machine shop....
Short version:
It all started 3 years ago....
dropped off core block to "prep" for road race car. Block was a "tight" .030" core with almost no wear. I had special ordered .030" pistons to fit my Brodix X11 heads, and had confirmed that the block could be honed and would clean up at the right size for my pistons. The guy never opened the box with the pistons and took my block .040.
He got me another core, which after getting it back the crank wouldn't turn becuase the rear cap was wacked. He wanted to send it out to line hone/bore....AFTER he had done the deck/cylinder work. BS. main work comes first since everything else is referenced off of that.
I gave up and bought a used motor that I made work for the application
#2 Dropped off a 22RET motor with him to have the block prepped...even brought him the correct specs for it, since they're different than the N/A 22RE motor, and bought the pistons from him. When I got it home, the piston, with no rings, wouldn't fall through the cleaned cylinder. They left zero piston/cylinder clearance...so it went back, and was done about 0.0005 over the big end of the tolerance when I picked it up the next time. I ran it because I had no other choice.
#3, 1st motor for the boat. His core, I go to put it together and the crank won't turn....after he'd had it line honed. someone before me, but after the line hone, had switched 2 of the caps AND misnumbered them. After I figured that out, the thing went together and had about 3/4" of slop in the timing chain, with a .010 short chain. Sumbitch. Can't get a shorter chain....ran it. It ate rear main bearings. I shortened the driveline and put a new crank thinking that may have had something to do with it and it solved the trust surface problem, but after I sunk it (less than 1 hour on the new crank/bearings) the rear main was wiped out again. Started measuring and discovered 0.0025 taper...clearance went from 0.004 to 0.0065 across the rear main. Further inspection showed uneven hone marks, indicating that the cap was not seated when honed. He wanted to line hone it again, even though the timing chain already had 3/4" slop in it. Bullshit. I gave him the block...use it for one of your other customer who don't measure anything.
#4, After #3, brought him another block and told him to prep it. Also, purchased MLS gaskets from him. Block came back without being decked. Deck looked like crap...no chance in hell of sealing against an MLS gasket. Called him on it and he said "It was running before...it'll be fine" and "we didn't deck it becuase you were already .005 outta the hole". I had asked him to set my Deck at zero. I feel he should have called me and let me know we had a problem, but he didn't because we really didn't have a problem. He didn't measure shit. I went back out and measured deck clearance and I came up with 0.007 in the hole. I brought it to another shop, sat their while they measured it up and their numbers agreed with mine, so I paid them to do it.
#4A...the heads. They were on a boat I bought so I don't know the history, but I brought them down and asked him to go through them. If it needs seats, put seats...make them right. I asked him to set the chamber volume at 115cc.
He did the bare minimum rebuilder grade shit careless job. I've spent $18K with him over the last 4 years or so....he knows the kind of work I'm looking for, but can't seem to give a shit.
and trust me, I'm not bitching over 0.004. I'm bitching over the fact that I can teeter-totter a straight edge 0.070 on the valve stems of the assembled head. I'm bitching about the fact that one head has 2 of the exhaust seats .025" deaper than the other 2. And most of all, I"m bitching at the fact that he told me "that's why you've got adjustable rockers...just order a few different length pushrods and put it together".
Fawk That!
We were buddies, so naturely, I'd always give him shit about his prices over a few beers when I'm down at the shop after hours....but I've always made him understand that I have no problem paying for a job done right....no matter the cost....as evident by the fact that this valve job will now probably cost me somewhere in the $3000 range. Thats fine. It'll be done right. I asked for proper valve job done right the way I wanted it. He did a $250 valve job, which is the best he can do apparently. That's my beef.
