The new forum looks great. I had visited the old forum a few times but just recently decided to join. I'm a member over at moparts as I'm sure some other folks here are as well.

I own a 72' Dodge Demon which I've had for a couple of years now. It has a 225 sl6 that is currently in need of a valve job. I recently scored a 77' head from the salvage yard which is cool 'cause it doesn't have the leaky spark plug tubes that my current 72' head does. I'm planning on having the new head rebuilt and then just swapping it with my old one.

I have a few questions about getting the head re-done that I was hoping you guys can help me with. The head shop I called quoted me a price of $425 for a 3 angle valve job, installation of new springs and valves and the installation of hardened valve seats. Does this sound like a fair price to you? Also, I thought by 1977 that the sl6 heads already came with hardened valve seats? Is the guy trying to sell me something I don't need? What other things should I think about having done to the head while I'm having it worked on?

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"Sometimes I want to live to be 100, other times I want to lay down and die." - Mike Ness

Sounds a bit pricey to me, but then again, $425 for anything sounds a bit pricey to me. I would shop around. Get a quote from another shop. I'd also consider just buying a remanned head for that price. I'm sure you can find one with all the same features for less than $425. Then again, I might be wrong....

Or maybe you can make a deal to supply your own parts and score them off of ebay. Then you just pay labor.

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'83 D150 225 2BBL

In a perpetual state of improvement...

www.handymanjosh.com

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, the 77 head already has hardened valve seats..

The one you are replacing does not however.

When they figure out how to plug that extra emissions hole you will have let me know, I've yet to find a pretty way of doing that.

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63 Valiant 200 Signet Convertible 170/
63 Dart, 225/
68 A100 Pick-up 225/
2006 Mitsu Raider Quad Cab (Dakota) Mopar 4.7L
1992 Dodge Stealth RT (My Mid-Lifer) 3.0L 24V

The '77 head has induction hardened seats that are ok to a point. It's not to difficult to grind through the hardening on some of the lesser ones. Hopefully the hardening is deep enough that you can save the cost of hard seats. Spark plug tube seals are easier to change than a valve cover gasket and last at least as long.

New valve springs are a good idea as are the exhaust valves, but the guides need to be good too. Intake valves usually last a very long time and rarely need replacement unless the stems are worn. If the exhaust valve seats in the head look good I'd skip the hard seats and reuse the intake and maybe even the exhaust valves.

$425 is a little spendy, but Northern California isn't a cheap place to live either. In Portland I could have the same work done for around $75-$100 less.

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Joshua

It's easy to make the plug tubes not leak—all ya gotta do is replace the O-rings. And there are better spark plugs available for the earlier-type head with the plug tubes. So, I prefer the earlier-type heads.
Assuming careful work and quality parts, given that you're getting all new springs and valves, plus hardened seats, yes it does. Both the '72 and the '77 heads have induction-hardened exhaust valve seats from the factory (1972 was the first year for this on slant-6 heads, '73 for V8s), but this hardness only extends about 0.040" below the surface and so it doesn't take much grinding to wear through to the unhardened metal. Hardened seat inserts are a good idea.
Depends on what your overall goal is for the car.

The '77 head will have an air injection port at the rear of the manifold mounting surface. This must be plugged off to avoid an exhaust leak. There's a factory blockoff plate available for it, P/N 3751 249, and gasket 4275 834 (though the gasket comes with any decent-quality manifold gasket set). The pipe-plug method works, too, but requires tapping. You do not need to plug off the individual air injection holes in each exhaust port.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

If that price includes the valves,springs & seats along with the labor it may be a good price. But no matter how much it cost the main thing is that they do quality work & use good pieces for the install. If all is good there then you cant go wrong even if it is a bit pricy.

Are these going to be oversize valve & performance springs. You didnt meantion anything about the guides, this is very important if the job is going to last. Khurling the guides is no good, it will last for awail but when the slack starts to show your valves will start leaking. So good guide linners or replacment guides would be best. Also going to a possitive lock valve seal is worth the effort and will be better in the long run.

As long as the work last & performce it will be OK even at a high price. But if after 10,000 miles you start having trouble even a cheap price has been wasted money that could have been put towards getting the work done right to begine with. So ask a lot of questions and see what it looks like you are getting for your money. Some people will do a little bowl blending when doing a 3 angle valve job and some want. Just talk to them and look around and see how it compairs to what others offer you.
Also pay attention to there equipment, they can only do as good as there tools will allow them.

Jess

Cool guys. Thanks for all the good info and for making a new guy feel welcome. I was wondering where you guys buy all your sl6 parts from because most of the online places I've checked out like Mancini Racing only carry stuff for V8s.

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"Sometimes I want to live to be 100, other times I want to lay down and die." - Mike Ness

Ebay, salvage, local parts stores. I'd be interested to know where anybody else gets theirs from too.

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'83 D150 225 2BBL

In a perpetual state of improvement...

www.handymanjosh.com

I just had my head rebuilt and it cost $125. This included new valves, springs, retainers, seals, hot tanking it to remove deposits and clear the passages and painting. I assume a complete 3 angle job would have been a bit more expensive but it was a low mileage head and didn't need it.


Russ

Repair parts are pretty easy to find. Performance parts are a bit tougher. Most of the parts on my turbo slant six are actually stock parts off other engines that I've adapted to a slant - I've got parts picked off various Ford, GM, Mopar, and Toyota products on there, and had a Nissan component there for a while too.

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

Something doesn't reckon here. Valves cost at least $6 apiece, usually more. Springs around $3.50/ea. Retainers around $2/ea. Seals $10/set. So that's $148 in parts alone. Either your guy gave you an absolutely screaming deal, or you got substandard parts, or he worked for less than $0.00/hr.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

You are correct. I just looked at my bill again and didn't add the labor charge to that, but that was because the guy I deal with owed me a favor and crossed it out. Labor would have been another $50-$70 more or less. Still pretty cheap in my opinion. When I had the heads done on my Mercury cougar (V6) a few years back, it was almost triple that cost!

Russ