Hey there, even better news, all the valves are leaking, ****ing awesome. Good thing it's cold because I won't be able to afford to fix this thing until April anyway. Well, no need to be in any hurry now.

 

Carbon buildup between the valve and the valve seat will make them leak a little.
Before you start replacing valves or regrinding the seats, try if lapping them in helps. I bet it will.

Remove the valves first and look for any obvious damage in the valve seating area. If no real damage is found get some fine lapping compound and lap in the valves. It will clear the "hammered in" carbon buildup and smooth out the sealing surfaces.

If there was no engine mishap (skipped timing chain or error in engine assembly) there's no reason why the valves would be bent.
If the valve clerance had gone to zero and valves were nor closing properly, yes that would quickly start to burn valves and the seat. But it will be obvious by looking at the valves after you take them out.

If there is no real damage, lapping will cure little sepage.

--
Mikko

 

All valves will not hold fluid. They PROBABLY were right once the head left the shop, but when you put the engine together out of time they got bent.

This is why I said you are in over your head. Send the head to a pro and get it fixed. It is going to cost what it does. I can't help that unless you send the head to me. I would fix the head for you, but I would have to install it too. SO just box up the bike and ship it out to western NY. I can't ride for a couple of months anyhow.....

The thing to do is remove the valves. Roll them on a table by the stems and see if the head of the valve wobbles. If it does then its bent and has to be replaced. Once the valves are straight, by deciding or replacing they need to be seated exactly to the head. Each one in its own place. As in a perfect match. This is why the seats need to be cut in the head and possibly ground on the valve. One further step is to lap each valve to the seat in the head to get a perfect match.

David

 

If the one shop took the valves out and put them back in i would be all over them... Valves just dont get bent for no reason...

FYI... when my bike got a new head the valves didnt seat down into the head as much as they should have. Hence sucking an intake valve 1000 miles later, the piston was hitting the valve at TDC every time... I would make sure that the piston isnt hitting the valves at all... thats bad news... i know all about it.

 

I doubt you have any issues. A low viscosity fluid like that will leak past about anything. The old test was to use oil and about 25psi of air. Hard to believe that you can't just lap the valves IF there is even an issue.

Was the bike blowing smoke before you took it apart? Was it not running right? Did it not have compression? Was it making noise? Was it popping or backfiring?

If you answer no to all the above, then what is the issue?

Take it someplace and have someone look at it, but don't panic yet till you do.

 

Couple things - for the leak test, I would use isopropyl alchohol instead of water.. It's thinner than water and will really show a leak.. Sometimes a valve could hold water, but not alcohol. That's the real test.

Also, new valves should fit in tight if they're OEM and there's no head damage. I replaced an intake valve in mine, and all I did to prep was to clean the crap out of the seating area and valve with seafoam, and throw it in. Alchohol leak test proved it was tight.

Just sayin.

Good luck.

 

Okay, my piston looks perfect like it never hit the valves but I did have it together out of timing but did not run it that way because it wouldn't run. I did try push starting it once or twice, I know it was a stupid thing to do, but it didn't start then either. After doing that push starting thing I could then hear something hitting in the engine and immediatley took it back apart.

It looks like I will at least need to go back to that machine shop and have them remove the valves and check them for me. Although, do I want to trust that place at this point?

 

The initial problem was that it wasn't starting period after reinstalling the 351 kit. I reinstalled because my clinder bolts needd to be retightened.

And doing the test, I used that chevron fuel treatment stuff you can box from Costco. I had some sitting around and figured it would work. After the first 351 install my bike had run super rich and the exhaust output was covered with black soot when I removed the head, so maybe it is just build up.

And if that is the case the OEM valves don't need to be fitted, per say, then the process shouldn't be quite so expensive to have done.

 

So why did the one shop take the valves out? and put them back in?

 

New valves do not need to be ground before installation (but the seat should get a little touchup). You can drop them in, out of the box, but he is right, the cams should be out for the leak test, just to make sure they're not keeping the valves open.

Now, I do custom cylinder head work for a living, and sell thousands, and thousands of my own custom made oversize, and 1 pc SS valves a year. I know a little bit about this.

Remove the cams.

Find a way to cycle the valves opened/closed a few times.

Do the leak test. I use windshield washer antifreeze. You probably have some close by

If they leak, cycle them a few more times and redo the test. They can leak a bit, then seal tight after you open/close them, or the machine shop could have mixed up which specific location each valve came out of.

You should be able to do a quick lap, and see if you either have a problem, or good contact all around, and get a good seal.

I would have done a leak check if the head were in my shop. Things happen, and if there was a leak, it would be easier to take care of it then, instead of now.

That intake valve looks fairly normal, but when I get a valve like that from my supplier, I don't sell it, just because of how it looks.