Would you resurface your own cylinder head?

[Xist]

I finally took apart my engine. I am cleaning it up and taking it to an engine shop today. Hopefully "Reinstallation is reverse of removal" is adequate instruction for me, even though six pages of instructions for removal weren't.

I am somewhat afraid of how much time I spent trying to figure out different details they left out. I could not remove the intake manifold completely and I did not want to force it, fearing that I would break something.

Then someone in a video said to not worry about that, you can slide the head out of the intake manifold.

Nice!

I think that Old School Funk has three videos about resurfacing your own cylinder head. In the first one, he glued sandpaper to a glass table, and moved the head across it for forty-five minutes. In the second he made sanding blocks, and in the third, he made sanding blocks, sprayed both the sanding blocks and cylinder head with WD40, and after a minute or two of sanding, he hosed off the blocks.

He says this method takes five to eight minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK2R2LdkLKs

I am concerned that it would not sand evenly, although I found dozens of comments on-line that this works adequately for them. Some even claim that Subaru mechanics do this instead of sending it to a machine shop.

Have any of you tried this? Would you?

Have any of you used his method to remove the cylinder head without removing the timing belt? If not, would you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5nGqtq3YnQ

I thought that it was weird that he fastened the broomstick to the side of the timing belt sprocket. I think that would move more than attaching it to the top, and I am concerned that you need to have the wire tight, but if you stress wire too much, it fails.

Another guy said he had replaced at least thirty Civic head gaskets in the past year and he never had any problems just removing the timing belt and sprocket and simply setting it aside.

As long as you mark it first, you can put everything back properly, right?

Finally, a word from ChrisFix about replacing winter air (in your tires) with summer air!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t09qfrYwok

[Frank Lee]

I've done my own flatty small engine heads.

Others go to the machine shop or local vo tech school.

[redpoint5]

This is among the reasons why EVs will eventually take over mechanically complex ICE vehicles. You've sunk a lot of time into the problem, and there's no guarantee that it will work well or last a long time after you get it back together.

I just spent like 2hrs trying to replace a battery in my Mom's $150 Nexus 6p phone, only to break the digitizer in the process. $80 later and another 2hrs spent, and the stinkin thing still doesn't work. I bought her a nice Pixel XL for $115 on Ebay. I wasted my time and money on something that was old and difficult to repair when I could have just moved on sooner.

If it were me, I'd take it to a shop to machine the head. Achieving smoothness is way to easy to mess up because sanding can cause a cheese grater effect where the areas toward the bottom of the direction of sanding receive more pressure than other areas and wear down quicker.

I have no experience rebuilding engines or fixing gasket leaks, but it seems like one of those things where experience really helps. There's head bolt torques that are super critical, and retorquing, and torquing in the correct order, and using the correct grade of bolt...

[Xist]

I replaced the original battery and daughterboard on my first Galaxy S6. Now it will not turn on. I took it to the only phone repair shop up here and the guy said that I was on my own. I bought another S6 off Back Market for $160, but aside from the battery and charging, it does not work as well. The virtual keyboard disappears frequently, giving more reason to use my computer whenever possible.

I also used to regularly schedule messages, but that option is completely missing from my current phone. I needed to download an app.

I keep getting distracted when I look for for my go\no-go gauges.

[redpoint5]

If the phone doesn't work, why not send it back?

$160 seems a bit much for a phone that debuted in 2015. As I said, I got a Pixel XL in great shape for $115.

I probably won't monkey with replacing batteries anymore considering used phones are cheap, and it's nice to update to newer technology every couple years.

[ksa8907]

Glass table? Not a great idea. Glass is usually flat, yes, but what about when you put a chunk of metal on it?

If I HAD to have the head resurfaced and I didn't want to or couldn't afford a machine shop, I would use a large file followed up by metallic sand paper and go SLOW. The critical thing is making sure you keep it flat.

Is the head warped? If it's still in good shape you shouldn't need to have them resurfaced. Before you go through the trouble, verify if it is warped or not. I would not try to fix a warped head DIY.

[Fat Charlie]

I vote machine shop.

[Xist]

The videos showed glass tables, but there were definitely people saying they put their glass on a sturdy workbench.

I called the machine shop to make sure that I had the right place. They said $50 plus tax and a day or two. I parked in front of the sign saying "Office," not seeing the sign pointing to the far side of the building.

No problem! It is just 1.6 liters! It is just aluminum!

Yeah, I will be parking at the other end next time.

In-person they said $65, then $85, and I left before he raised it again.

The center of the head was off 0.003 inches. I could only fit my straight edge down the center of the block, but I could not fit my 0.0015 shim under the straight edge.

I did not want to remove the rest of the engine, haul that around, and pay to have it machined!

[jcp123]

Sounds too risky for me. <$100 vs a messier problem down the road? I like DIY, but this isn't where I'd skimp.

[Xist]

He also has videos for doing the other parts of the head yourself. I found a video saying to not grind the valve... homes... yourself, if your grinding bit (is that the name?) gets a nick it can mess up everything.