Saving a S54 From Parting Out.

[TexaZ3]

Fantastic work once again.

[Theraqa]

Damn Anri, keep up the good work man, im absolutely in love with this thread, gaining lots of information and motivating me for my first DIY S54 build, for past few months i have been slowly gathering parts of the S54 engine to start building it, only thing i don't have is block itself, but hopefully ill find it soon, i have got crank which has some marks which are not deep but would like to remove so i will be polishing it to "mirror finish".
My good old friend gave me many S54 parts including this cylinder head, which has some damage on water/coolant jackets, i guess for using bad coolant...
Anyways, i was told that you can fill those damaged areas with welds and then resurface, im a bit skeptical about this and that's why would like to know your professional opinion on this, i know its not ideal but its what i got and if it will work i would like to use it.
Also after you mentioned that you coat pistons with special coatings i did bit research, as i did not know anything about this and asked around in my area and found a guy who is coating piston skirts in teflon, in house and he charges 10$ per piston and thats cheap i guess, so i wanted to give it a go, but my concern is teflon coating it self, i know you coat your pistons with different material than this, but after coating the skirts as long as piston to wall clearance wont be too tight it should be fine right?

[kittenpura]

Hello Anri, I am new to this forum and I cannot send you a private message regarding another "save from part out" job for my s54. Is this of interest to you? Thanks in advance

[Anri]

yeah it depends why the head is off, if it is for a legit refresh id always insist on renewing plus also there are better VJ that can be done if building a higher performance engine but if its off because the headgasket and its more of a cleanup/inspection with low mileage since being refreshed then i would let sleeping dogs lie

On the s54 it doesn't matter so much having the tips protruding the same as the lash caps will take up the rest. on other engines its best to have the protrusion the same but if the valves are same and the seats are cut the same depth from the deck it should be pretty close unless the as manufactured dimensions were a bit off or its been refreshed before and was twisted and rather than straightening first then machining the deck the previous machinist just cut the deck

Digger,


The single point I was making it is bloody amount of effort to cut around
~thou from the valve tips to correct the valve re-surface loss of material.

Shims(not lash cap) will be 1 size smaller on all 24v

Absolutely un-necessary step.

Regards,
Anri

[digger]

Digger,

Thanks for your reply.

Even if the surfaces are in good condition the eccentricity needs to be measured
to ensure as close as possible to 0. I always kiss the the seat and the valve to ensure
good seal.

To note, I really never understood why machine shops would also grind the valve Tip
to make up for the removed layer from the valve....? it always made me smile.

I leave the valve tips alone and the valve adjustment will receive shims which are
1 size down.


Regards,
Anri.

yeah it depends why the head is off, if it is for a legit refresh id always insist on renewing plus also there are better VJ that can be done if building a higher performance engine but if its off because the headgasket and its more of a cleanup/inspection with low mileage since being refreshed then i would let sleeping dogs lie

On the s54 it doesn't matter so much having the tips protruding the same as the lash caps will take up the rest. on other engines its best to have the protrusion the same but if the valves are same and the seats are cut the same depth from the deck it should be pretty close unless the as manufactured dimensions were a bit off or its been refreshed before and was twisted and rather than straightening first then machining the deck the previous machinist just cut the deck

[Anri]

if the sealing surfaces are in good condition leave them alone

Digger,

Thanks for your reply.

Even if the surfaces are in good condition the eccentricity needs to be measured
to ensure as close as possible to 0. I always kiss the the seat and the valve to ensure
good seal.

To note, I really never understood why machine shops would also grind the valve Tip
to make up for the removed layer from the valve....? it always made me smile.

I leave the valve tips alone and the valve adjustment will receive shims which are
1 size down.


Regards,
Anri.

[tlow98]

You cannot properly correct improper seats/valves by lapping no matter what you see retards doing on YT etc if the sealing surfaces are in good condition leave them alone, if not in good condition then you correct them by cutting or grinding first.

yep. This part of my build went straight to someone with experience and more money in tooling than their house. Not that you need that kind of machine, but their reputation was worth it!

[sapote]

You cannot properly correct improper seats/valves by lapping no matter what you see retards doing on YT etc if the sealing surfaces are in good condition leave them alone, if not in good condition then you correct them by cutting or grinding first.

Yes, I didn't think about the mushroomed seats pounded by the high-lift valves at high mileage engines.

[digger]

If no valve nor seat got damage, why not just lap the valves to seats for a perfect sealing surface and call it a day and skip the cutting of valves and seats?

You cannot properly correct improper seats/valves by lapping no matter what you see retards doing on YT etc if the sealing surfaces are in good condition leave them alone, if not in good condition then you correct them by cutting or grinding first.

[Anri]

Hi Anri,
Off by 0.001" under size compared to new spec, or run-out from roundness? After polishing the crank, do you heat-treat the journals to add back the hardness coating?

The 1-1.5" thou is how much the crank is bent nothing to do with clearance.
My polish is more just to "glaze" the surface. Imagine it's like polishing compound.

Do you need to lap the valves to the seats as the final step?

Yes I do lap to see how the valve job is done and were is the contact area. I took pics for you earlier today

Lapping is good but one needs to clean the surface very well !!! Because if you only wipe there will be
left over lapping compound in the lapped trace and that will be potentially imbedded on the valve surface.
I use extremely fine lapping compound to only haze the surface so no harm there are all.
To clean to perfection I use acetone with scotchbrite lightly scrubbing ones the seat is done and then with
new paper towel I make a final wipe again with Acetone before I put the valve/s.

If no valve nor seat got damaged, why not just lap the valves to seats for a perfect sealing surface and call it a day and skip the cutting of valves and seats?

I get what you are saying but look at the exhaust valve, pay attention the pitting. That is from
carbon flying thru and getting stuck and the valve is beating the seat pounding the surface and what
you see in the pic.

Intake valves don't not have this issue. Contact surface is not ideal after so many miles. Beating the
valve seat. The only way to seal is to kiss the surface as I do to make it flat and kiss the seat.

Pay attention to valve contact area right were it needs to be right on the edge.

Regards,
Anri

[sapote]

I
am getting around ~1thou which is totally normal.

Hi Anri,
Off by 0.001" under size compared to new spec, or run-out from roundness? After polishing the crank, do you heat-treat the journals to add back the hardness coating?

One of the most important is when the valve seat is cut the eccentricity
to be as close as possible to 0. I am able to bring this to Under .1" thousand !
I am improving my method at present and I will be to 0-(zero) run out.

I guess you spend lots of time to find the perfect valve guide center in order to cut the seat with zero eccentricity. Very nice work.
Do you need to lap the valves to the seats as the final step?

Cutting the valves is also another tricky moment. Ones installed in the chuck
one can not take rapid material away as most I have seen because the 5mm narrow
lower stem can flex and cut the valve not perfectly oval. Its very time consuming
process do all 24 valves. At last when the valve is cut the is around 3min just
running and making passes with the stone to glaze the surface to mirror finish
as you can see it in the picture..

If no valve nor seat got damage, why not just lap the valves to seats for a perfect sealing surface and call it a day and skip the cutting of valves and seats?

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

[Anri]

Proper Valve Job is critical !!!!


I am fully equipped to do reface, valves, seats in-house and do it properly!!!. I
got tired of shop doing sloppy work...and having issues sealing the valves
agains the seat......There are Machine shops who do good work but usually they
are out at least 2months before they can take you In and then I am still having
a doubt if the work is done up to my standard so why I got the tooling to do it
on my own and properly without any doubts.

One of the most important is when the valve seat is cut the eccentricity
to be as close as possible to 0. I am able to bring this to Under .1" thousand !
I am improving my method at present and I will be to 0-(zero) run out.

Ones it's done this way the valves seals absolute properly against the seat,
and when you measure leak down test the head is sealing 100% and you know
if you have some leak its coming from the bottom end.


Cutting the valves is also another tricky moment. Ones installed in the chuck
one can not take rapid material away as most I have seen because the 5mm narrow
lower stem can flex and cut the valve not perfectly oval. Its very time consuming
process do all 24 valves. At last when the valve surface is cut usually its takes around
3min just running and making passes with the stone to glaze the surface to mirror finish
as you can see it in the picture.

This link is to show you guys head done at machine shop in Florida(swipe for a video). https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp-yr4EPIQP/

This is the current S54. https://www.instagram.com/p/CuazFGcgnHS/

Regards,
Anri.

[Anri]

Gents,

Forgot to share the crank condition.

There are 2 proper ways to check the crank and I do both ways.

a) via V blocks using crankshaft stand
b) via placing 2 mains half. 1 at the cylinder 1 and then at
thrust so that the crankshaft it does not move back and forth I
am getting around ~1thou which is totally normal.

The junk yard advertised this engine as 128k miles might be right
might be wrong....could be 228k lol.

When I polish the journals the the belt speed can not be too fast in
order to get the mirror finish. The belt grit can not be to rough.. it
take some time to play in order to get good results.

One can see the marks in the crankshaft journals and on the thrust side.
Polishing the crank knocks off the sharp edges so that way they scores
are under the surface and funny to say that they will hold oil which is a
good thing. For sure this crankshaft has some ware from poor
maintenance.

I am sharing these details so people could expect to see from these
engines. They are getting older by the days.

Enjoy.

[Anri]

Moving to the cylinder head work.

(excuse my single missing bolt on the Rotisserie-Head Stand
but forgot those special length bolts using std washer and the head
is allen type) Next week I will get them from the hardware store.

On the Rotisserie landing area there are 2 layers of duct tape
to prevent metal to metal contact.

Regards,
Anri

[Anri]

Anri, great update, but I can't get past cutting the corner on the guides. Yes they are robust, but still if there is a issue it could be catastrophic at worse but at best to replace them it is very invasive. I just looked and the parts are retail about $140 (oil pump and both cam chain guides) wholesale cost $100 +/-. Isn't there a better place to save money than there?

George,

Thanks for you reply. I get it, but its not me my man.
The pile of $100's here and there....is big, I forgot to mention
the Water pump is also replaced with one in a good condition....

Moving ahead.

Regards,
Anri