Topic: soaking a fully assembled head???

[J.Webster Designs]

hey guys, I got my top end apart and im looking at cleaning things up now. does anyone know if soaking the head fully assembled is a bad thing? I was thinking about getting a bin and simple green and soaking it for a while. is there any negative effects of doing this???

[Short Round]

How do the valves look? if you have the head off the motor I would go ahead and remove the valves, and have them relapped with new seals.  I'm not sure if simple green will effect the valve seals or not but I would have to go ahead and be a skeptic.  other than the seals it shouldn't hurt a thing, hope this helps...............Chris

[1timduke]

+1 on removing the valves and lapping...What was the reason for taking the head off???   Did you have a problem or just wintertime curiosity?                           -Tim

[J.Webster Designs]

no problems, there was an oil leak coming from an undetermined area. so I am doing a top end gasket job/cleaning things up. here is what the head is looking like:



all bearing surfaces look great, cylinders are in great shape, i measured the end gap on the top ring in cylinder 1 and it measured out to .48mm max is .6mm or was it .048mm and .06mm? it was within spec.

[MRieck]

 I'd say the oil leaks are coming from the oil return galleys. You should at least change the guide seals while it is apart.

[J.Webster Designs]

the valves have been removed and seals are going to be replaced. thanks for the advice guys. ill pull the seals in a little while and soak the head after i scrub the soaking cylinders for the last time. then i will lap the valves and start re assembling.