Heads are done. A couple questions...

I got the Eddy heads back from porting today. This is the first time I've had this kind of work done and wanted to know if this is common.

As a machinist, I'm well versed in the mechanics of machining dissimilar metals in a single assembly. However, it strikes me as odd that the little thin chunkies of aluminum would be left hanging near the valve guides. It makes me want to pull the valves and clean it up by hand. Granted, it's tiny thin flakes of aluminum that are unlikely to cause damage but I'll be left wondering if they're flaking off as the engine runs.
The spark plug holes look pretty rough, too. I know that threads mean a tapered end will have highs and lows based upon the depth of the thread at each point. I'll shoot some plugs in them and see which holes need attention.

I also noticed there are little pockets in the port roof just in front of the guides. At first glance it looked like he broke through to the spring seats but closer examination shows it to be little pockets left over from the original casting.True to mass production casting, the little pockets vary from port to port.

It seems his program didn't do much to the intake port roof but it might not have been necessary and breaking through would be listed as Bad Thing.

The chambers look pretty nice other than the plug bosses. I haven't popped out a valve to inspect the seat work, nor have I stuffed an endoscope in there.

What are your impressions of the job done by this one crappy pic of one random port?

That looks bad and if you ask me. It is poor workmanship.. I look them over real good.

That is the downside of a CNC program. Sometimes the casting variance will move features around but the program is the program. The more aggressive the CNC program the more likely you run into thin spots. I had Modern do a set of heads for me years ago and their program was so aggressive that the heads ended up needing to be repaired. On the flip side, the Trick Flow programs seem to be conservative enough that I've never seen any problems with any of their heads which have come in the shop. It just boils down to how aggressive the programmer was in removing material to make power. And of course, sometimes it is just bad luck. Even a conservative program can end badly if the casting is thin.

I assume you'd blow them apart and clean them up.

Typical of a CNC program.

Not me, I learned my lesson and now everything goes to Porter Racing Heads before it comes to me.

Yup. Take apart and run around the guides with a sanding cartridge. 60 to 80 grit

Put some dykim on the seats and run a valve to see the margin.

.050 wide is average

He suggested this vendor. I assumed they'd be viable when they came back to me. Didn't think I'd have to send them to a third party for finishing.

Wait a minute? You had the heads ported and prepped by a shop and they sent them back to you with the advice to send them to another shop for "finishing"???

how aggressive the programmer was in removing material

More variables:
1. how many passes are used to remove X amount of material (how many hours is the machine running)
2. what radius is the cutting head

as a machinist, i don't like what i see on that guide, CNC program or not.
those heads need taken apart and that mess touched up/fixed.
how many ports are like that ?

Yikes. Rather depressing if it wasn't checked and communicated before shipping out.
I understand the variances, but I wouldn't consider that ready to run.

No.

He sent them back with no invoice or suggestions after charging me 60% more than we discussed on the initial quote.

You missed something.

I am a machinist. Therefore, I know exactly what I'm seeing.

I see a distinct lack of second operations and/or hand work to finish. It's the type of work that doesn't leave my shop.

All ports are like that.

This is not what I expected to see after being told "around $750" and being charged $1233.

Did you get a flowsheet?

If you can get them to Katy Tx, take them apart & bring 2 retainers with locks & one each valves & I will fix them & give you some flow #'s off of my toy Super Flow bench,, No charge !!! & to be VERY clear I almost did not want to make this post because I do NOT want to take work away from Dwayne Porter, he is the BEST choice

Sorry to jump back in but regardless of Feets ultimate direction, that is a stand up offer csk!! Thanks for being on the board.

I didn't even get a thank you.

I appreciate the offer CSK.

I'll send you a message.

Wow. Sorry to hear you got screwed over.

Tremendous offer from you Charlie!!!

I'm interested to know where not to send my heads.

Touché

As most everyone has already stated, these should not look like that.

But...to make you feel better (well, meaning this [censored] happens far too many times to all of us), check out the attached photos...the crud on the side of the guide is the left-over machining junk that the shop left in my factory SB heads.

That was after $1.5K CAD in '99 (so yeah, freaking expensive, but this was a highly recommended racing machine shop in London, ON, Canada - 'Atchison Machine Service').

Good thing I pulled these apart, I was going to try my hand at some serious head porting work...glad I did!

What all was done for $1233? Cleaning used parts, full cnc (ports and chamber) and valvejob? Shipping?

The heads were used but clean, disassembled, and freshly decked. I supplied new valves, seats, retainers, locks, and springs. I didn't supply the seals because I didn't know what would be needed after the work was done.

I told him that I needed every bit of flow I could get out of them. He and I discussed it at length and he said it would be around $750.

Everyone scoffed at the $1600 quote I had previously so I thought that price was more typical.

He did the ports, chambers, faced the valve seats, and assembled the valves.

All said I don't think that was a bad price at all to pay for what you got. In your new post it looks like a VALVE JOB was done as well as lapped seats? Honestly the chips of aluminum i see you'll never know it went thru the motor. That said I would take a scribe and remove anything that looked 'loose'. The work looks good.

The rest of the work looks good to me. I was disappointed to see the lack of attention and hand finishing. That made me think he was taking short cuts.