remanufactured cylinder heads

[Imakenocents]

Just wanted to give a heads up to anyone purchasing a cylinder head from Clearwater Cylinder Head or Odessa (E-bay Name) in Clearwater, Florida. I have purchased two heads from this business and the first had no issues but the second had some major issues that I repaired myself since I was getting no satisfaction from the owner of the business. 13 of the 18 cam cap bolt holes would not hold 105 inch pounds of torque as called for by the shop manual without stripping the aluminum threads. I'm not including the end caps since they are torqued to a higher spec and they did hold the required torque. I ended up placing helicoils in 13 of 18 and then they would hold specified torque. The business owner's fix was to use less torque than called for by the manual, oh really, come on that's ridiculous. He claims 105 inch pounds is not necessary. Well, I can't speak for anyone else but for me, that's the wrong answer. I actually just wanted him to know so he could address the issue in future product repair. He seemed to be more interested in the cost to do the necessary repairs and keeping his prices low and competitive. That's all good and fine but not when the product is inferior. I also had to re-tap one of the camshaft position sensor holes because the factory screw would not thread into the head without cross threading. I tried both screws same result. Thankfully the sealing surface and valves were fine but just a caution to any prospective buyers of these heads beware. I found another company I think I will try the next time I buy one of these and go that route. The rest of the head was great and packaged great but to not do the small extra steps necessary to fully refurbish this head was unacceptable to me. Buyer beware and if you use them be cautious. My first one was without issue, the second, well, now you know the rest of the story.

[rob302]

Originally Posted by Imakenocents

I ended up placing helicoils in 13 of 18

can you even do that and expect it to last?? i would expect after something like that you'd minimum need to line hone the cam journals if not slightly milling the caps and then re boring and line honing. sounds "iffy". you should have disputed that, not fixed it.. IMO

i could just be paranoid or worry too much, i just don't understand how you can drill, tap, and install a helicoil and have accurately centered cap that still has had 0.003"-ish clearance in a perfect circle with no offset, twist, side to side error.

[Imakenocents]

I did dispute it but I was getting no satisfaction from the business. The head had already been torqued with new head bolts and head gasket. They were not going to cover that cost. I don't believe there will be an issue since the caps were not modified in any way nor the surface area of the head was altered in any way in the process. Same cam cap bolts were utilized. There would have been no distortion to the bearing surface for any of the cam journals.

[Imakenocents]

Rob, one thing is very clear, uneven torque across the cam is not acceptable especially when it does not meet the specification or a cap that actually fails at high rpm. That would get ugly fast. Technically you would be absolutely correct in your observation. Sometimes prayer and the good Lord brings it all together. I have utmost confidence in the repair as opposed to the alternative. I am just disappointed in a machine shop that does not address this kind of issue especially at such a low torque value of 105 inch pounds. That should be the minimum requirements before calling a head remanufactured, every area should be brought back to specification and verification that it will hold proper torque specification.

[PTloser32805]

I’m in the area. How much did they charge? New valves or grinder?

I had one cam cap bolt strip on me. I was about to helicoil but then I tried a longer bolt and I got a good bite.

I did disregard the torque wrench after that and just “made them tight.”

I think the threads get worn down blasting the head. I think they should put bolts into the threads while they are blasting it.

[Imakenocents]

You are in Clearwater area or Amboy, Indiana area just trying to clarify? I don't believe all valves were new or they wouldn't make any profit at 285 dollars per head with exchange. That being said valves and seats sealed good and guides and seals were replaced by the shop. I would not recommend any torque unverified or less than shop manual spec, the caps could fail and cause catastrophic kibbles and bits so to speak.

[PTloser32805]

I’m in the Clearwater area.

Y and J classic machine shop in Orlando is the best. In best I mean for the money they do the best job. Anyone can ship it to me and I’ll handle it and ship it back. No charge. Actually eight dollar charge. 2.5o for monster energy drink. 1.5 for cheese burger and the rest gas.

I paid 180 out the door for a pt cruiser remanufactured. I brought my own parts.
The only parts you really need are valve seals which cost very little. I put new valves in for the heck of it.

[NitroPT]

It is not the usual practice for most machine shops to chase all the threads on servicing an OEM valve job. I did however dislike that the recommendation claimed by the shop was to use a lower torque setting.

The use of helicoil in that area is not the best method of fix and it would have been better to use Time Sert Thread Repair.

Personally I would have check all the threads on a head before installing it.

One last thing I am concerned that there were so many threads that would not torque up. I can understand a single thread or two but not as many as described on a single head? Unusual!!! Rare!

[Imakenocents]

Originally Posted by NitroPT

It is not the usual practice for most machine shops to chase all the threads on servicing an OEM valve job. I did however dislike that the recommendation claimed by the shop was to use a lower torque setting.

The use of helicoil in that area is not the best method of fix and it would have been better to use Time Sert Thread Repair.

Personally I would have check all the threads on a head before installing it.

One last thing I am concerned that there were so many threads that would not torque up. I can understand a single thread or two but not as many as described on a single head? Unusual!!! Rare!

Absolutely agree with your assessment, in the future I will absolutely verify these can accept proper torque before getting as deep into it as I had already gone and money spent on the head gasket and head bolts. I began to suspect my torque wrench but I had just used the same wrench on another identical head just prior with no issues at 105 inch pounds. I assume too much and gave to much credence to the machine shop and all of their checks. I would have thought this issue would have been verified by them but obviously I was wrong. I did however notice two or three places on the head helicoils had been used prior to my purchase. All of our torque wrenches at my Air Force job are calibrated by a PMEL lab for accuracy verification. Unfortunately I don't have that option for my personal tools. Time Sert is a good idea, will keep that in mind for the future if needed again. I think I will be okay after much prayer went in to the issue. It certainly is running well now and has good throttle response. By the way I bought a BlueDriver code reader with some live data capability that is wireless bluetooth. Do you have any familiarity with this product? For the price and its capability I am impressed so far. The convenience and mobility to be carried basically in a pocket is a plus. The graphing for live data is a bit cheesy but I like the gauge display option for live data.