falcon_master":1xq0mpxt said:
Hello everyone I hope you all had a good weekend. I think I am going to take other peoples ideas and play it safe and trailer the car down. But I still will use it as a daily driver for the 6 mike drive to school and back. But besides that I have some questions still. I remember earlier on this forum I asked if I should install hardened valve seats, I do not know of this engine has ever been touched or the head has ever come off to have hardened seats installed but judging by how it looks and the odometer I think it’s safe bet to say it has 124,000 or even 224,000 miles non rebuilt engine. Now I remember a few people said just drive it for awhile save up money and plan on replacing the head later, I seem to like that idea I just need it to drive somewhat reliably for a year so I can finish school first. How hard is it to pull the head and get them installed real quick. But who knows maybe it has been rebuilt and has hardened seats already, it has great compression still 140 PSI. I need to check if it even has the original head still on it because it has a 1963 exhaust manifold on it it might not even have the original head still on it.
paragraphs are your friend. that said;
1: you dont need hardened valve seats with modern fuels. this was necessary back in the day when unleaded fuel first became the fuel of the land, but the oil companies have since added a lubricant to the fuel that will sufficiently lubricate the valve seats and prevent valve recession.
2: since you have good compression, i would not touch the head until it actually needs work. dont spend money you dont need to. if you plan on reworking the head at a future date, then go find a head to rework and put money into that a little at a time. for instance lets say you buy the head, and after working for say a month to save up some cash, lets say $100, and you need say $75 to have the head milled for a two barrel conversion, then do that.
later on you an do other things as you can afford them. in the mean time the used head that you buy you can clean up, remove the valves and clean them, check them to see if they are still serviceable, use a dremel tool and some grinding stones to clean up the ports IE getting rid of sharp edges, casting flash, etc.
3: start buying parts when you can afford them as well, like new springs for the cam you intend to run, the new cam and lifters, a gasket set, etc. this way by the time you are ready to swap the head, and other parts, you have them on hand and can do the work in a long weekend and be ready to drive the car when the work day rolls around.