More on head work

Seems much of the noise in these engines comes from the tappet guides. Just how big a job is it to replace these?..a qualified shop of course …

Not terribly hard, but the shop has to have a way to heat the heads, evenly, while dropping in the new chilled guides, then making sure the tappets are fitted properly.

New tappet guides are oversize on the outside and undersize on the inside. The head has to be machined to be concentric with the valve guide. Once installed, the tappet needs to be machined to fit the tappet. An option is an oversize tappet and just machine the existing tappet guides. Another option is to remove the tappet and turn it 90 degrees. All of the wear is at 12:00 and 6:00. 12 new tappets installed is probably going to cost north of $1000. Sure needs to make a lot of noise. Replacing the really worn guides with good used ones also works. Just don’t forget to lock them in place.

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dick is correct in my opinion. i personally do not mind the noise as long as there is no rattling. there are some other methods of tackling the job depending on how much wear and availability of a trusted machinist. as a friend always said if you can hear them you know they are working. ymmv

i should have started by saying that Dick is the professional and i am not. best regards jj

Thanks Dick…I was hoping you would comment