Valve guide reamer

Goodson or cylinderheadsupply. .003” valves are still available in the aftermarket. Just make sure you get your clearances right, too tight and they might stick and hit a piston, too loose and you have wasted a bunch of time and money.
 
Knurling doesn't work good on cast iron guides (its more for bronze guides), plus its more of a temporary fix to me. On my old valves the stems have enough wear to be on the loose side if the valve guides are not worn also. I was just hoping that someone may know if anyone makes the .003" reamer with the pilot like what was in the SW502 reamer tool kit. I ordered my .003" oversize valves from the UK, all six valves with shipping costs the same as buying one intake, and one exhaust valve here in the US. Talk about a price markup!
 

During the 60's, 70's, 80's knurling guides in cast iron heads was a common practice, no they didn't hold up as well as replacing the guides but in automotive apps the body wore out before the rebuilt engine did.
My rule of thump was, if the old valves where good but the guides where loose knurl the guides.
If the valves where worn and the guides where loose, ream the guides and install valves with over sized stems.
If the valves where shot and new guides where needed, find another head because it probably needed seats as well, most times one could get a new or reman head for less than the cost of replacing the valves, guides and seats.
 
Have you measured the stem diameters on all of your valves?

There is some variation so they do need to be miked before you order and there are plenty of places to buy chucking reamers.

I think the .003 over size valve is what is normal in automotive so the valve should normally be less expensive than the original size.
The clearance should be 0.001-0.0024" on intake valve stem and 0.002-0.0034" on the exhaust.

Grainger Industrial Supply is just many places to get chucking reamers.
 

Gonna say that's a Whut He Said deal. As the labor rates went up and what we once did, did not fair as well with unleaded gas I stopped knurling and replace all worn parts and moved on with life. Reaming is a option if you need new valves and can save you a few bucks. In the last five years I have ground one valve ONE and I have the equipment its just not worth my time I can have it done cheaper and make money working on something else. I do have a guy that does my machine work and put a lot of faith in his work. If I need him I want him to be there so farm head work out to him... If I had nothing else to do then I would tackle it.
 
I have the valve grinder, the time, and everything else to a valve job. It's my luck the one reamer I really need I don't have. According the Ford shop manual, valve stem to guide clearance should be .0010" - .0045".
 
I had a NOS head for a 36/4600 that I
bought on ebay. It was just the blank
head, no valves, springs, etc. I bought
all those parts and completed it.
Then my pal Kenny needed a head so I
traded for his used one on condition that
he have it rebuilt.
Because he was getting a brand new head he
decided to go the full monte on having his
rebuilt. He brought it to a specialty shop
and they bored and sleeved the guides back
to standard. They said that was by far the
best.
Dunno. I would have been happy with a ream
and OS valves but he just gave it to me
that way and told me what they had said.
 
The standard valves are a little cheaper than the .003 over valves, but doing the bronze guides aren't cheap, plus all the extra time, and extra tools needed. If the old valve stems aren't too bad they do re-use them, after they clean them up, and charge you for new ones (depending on the shop). That's why I like to do my own, then I know for sure what I have.
 
The pricing is a little confusing because in actuality the original valves are undersize by 0.003" as an industry standard.
 
If knurling does not work good on cast iron heads, why are some of the replacement guides
that I am buying for engines that have replaceable guides, knurled when I get them. I
installed a set in a 134 Continental last week and the new guides were knurled when I took
them out of the box. I would guess I have at least 50 engines out there running that have
knurled guides and I have not had One comeback. I agree that if the guides are worn .010
knurling may not be an option, but all the machine shops in my area are still doing it.
 
(quoted from post at 10:11:52 11/23/17) If knurling does not work good on cast iron heads, why are some of the replacement guides
that I am buying for engines that have replaceable guides, knurled when I get them. I
installed a set in a 134 Continental last week and the new guides were knurled when I took
them out of the box. I would guess I have at least 50 engines out there running that have
knurled guides and I have not had One comeback. I agree that if the guides are worn .010
knurling may not be an option, but all the machine shops in my area are still doing it.


Were the guides you took out of the box knurled on the inside, or the outside, and what material were the valve guides made from.
 

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