First of all, thanks to all responders. I started the car for the first
time after getting the head back from the machine shop twice on March 25
and
the 8 year old Die Hard died. I left the dome light and glove compartment
light on too many times and you can only recharge these batteries so many
times. I called the owner of the machine shop that did the work and
though
he didn't personally do the work he was adamant that the work was done to
exact industry standards. He said that the valve stem heights are correct
and that the tips were grinded. He said that my problem was retarded
timing
and to try advancing the timing. I finally got a new battery on April 3
and
started the car after advancing the timing. Same exact results with 10"
of
vacuum, no power, and smoke coming off the engine. I removed the head and
placed a long straight edge against the tips of the valves and only two
tips
touched the straight edge. The other tips had maybe a 30 thousandts gap.
I
spoke to another machine shop owner and he suspects the valves are not
seating correctly. I told him that I thought that the valves were not
closing when the spark arrives at TDC of the piston stroke and the problem
could be incorrect valve heights. He responded that the engine shouldn't
smoke if that was the problem. I also noticed that when I removed the
rocker assembly with cylinder one at TDC the exhaust valve was depressed
quite a bit. However, every exhaust valve was blackened with fine soot
except for number 1. I also see rust around the newly machined surface of
the head and suspect that water is getting on the head surface. Could the
problem be water getting into the cylinders? I also checked every pushrod
against the glass of my pinball machine and they are all perfectly
straight.
I am bringing the head to the shop owner who suspects incorrect valve
seating. He is going to perform a vacuum test on the valves and go from
there. I thought it was going to be a simple matter of removing the head,
having the head machined, reinstall the head, and drive away. Another
machinist told me that this is exactly what should have happened.
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