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Valve seats
Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 9:41 pm
by Dotty traveller
Hi what is the cost of having valve seats hardened
Re: Valve seats
Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 10:38 pm
by philthehill
Somewhere between £130 & £250 and the final cost is dependent upon what is required and what is recommended.
The old seat (which is part of the head) is cut out and a new hardened steel seat pressed into place. The seat is then cut to suit the valve.
You may find that you do require new valve guides and a light skim to the face of the head which will raise costs.
When I changed the head on my Ser 2 fitted with a 1098cc engine to a unleaded item I went and purchased an exchange unit. It saved the hassle of taking the head to a machine shop, leaving the head for the machine shop to do the work and then going back to collect the head. Having the exchange head readily available the car was only off the road for the day. Back then it was my main means of transport so could not afford to have it off the road for too long.
Here is a similar lead free head to the one I fitted to my Ser 2.
https://www.morrisminorspares.com/engin ... s-p1238983
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Re: Valve seats
Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2023 4:26 pm
by svenedin
The exchange cylinder heads from ESM have gone up in price a lot over recent years and are now £564 (including VAT) providing the old serviceable head is returned. I thought this was a bit much. My cylinder head gasket was leaking oil slowly so I knew I would have to do the gasket at some point but there was no great rush. Instead of using an exchange head I sourced another head and had that (and the rocker gear) fully refurbished including hardened valve seats. The advantage to doing this was that it was cheaper than an exchange head and I now have 2x cylinder heads (I still have the old one that came off my engine). I was pleased with the work and the refurbished head was returned painted BMC green. The disadvantage is that the company that did the work were rather slow (over 2 months as I recall). Originally I thought this would be even cheaper still as I already had a spare cylinder head but it turned out to be too pitted with rust on the mating surface from decades in my garage.
Stephen