So I finally talked to a machine shop today

Positively Ralf

Well-known member
Really nice guy who has worked on plenty of motors in his life. I just have to remove the head and take it to his shop since there is no space for cars in the place. He is going to be charging me $250 for a really nice clean up of the head, conversion and rocker arms being cleaned.

What sucks is he doesn't do any mild porting but said he has someone who does it but that person charges from $400 to $700. He suggests I skip this for now. He will do the 3 angle valve job along with anything else I need done to the motor. Although I may see what to do about the porting since he knew right away that the log head for the 200s are pretty bad.

He asked me if I will be installing a beefier cam and I told him I was going for a mild build so no need for a bigger beefier cam. He told me that if I do switch the cam, I will have to get the springs as well. I don't remember anyone saying that springs will have to be changed at all so that confused me. Will the springs need to be changed or is this him thinking I will be going with the strongest cam available? Like I said, I'm just trying to go for a mild build. If I do have to switch the springs, can someone give me some advice on which ones to choose?

I just now have to remove the head :) I just hope I will be able to do it since I want to try to do as much as possible on my own.
 
Since there is no intake porting on the log head that should cut the porting quote in half.
Maybe go for some pocket porting if you can cut a deal.
Heavier springs are a normal recommendation for a high-po cam, just because you don't want the valves bouncing around due to the extra lift.
As a matter of fact the stock springs are really soft and an upgrade would be worth considering, even with just a stock cam.
 
I just removed the head on my 200 about a month ago. Had it resurfaced and got it back together last week. It's not that bad, just pay attention to where things go, and put all the parts in a safe place while they're off. It took about 2 hours to remove and maybe 3 to put back on. You can do it. I've never taken an engine apart before, so it was a learning experience like everything else for me. Go For it! (use a FSM and Chiltons or Haynes)
 
The springs are on the head.
Here's pic of the Classic Inlines head. Our looks a little different but still has the springs in the same place.
AH013w.jpg

You might want to check this page out for reference on prices:
http://classicinlines.com/HeadWork.asp
Here is another page with a bunch of info:
http://www.fordsix.com/tech.php
 
You will want to take the rockers off so you can take the push rods out. Get the bolts broke loose then do a couple of turns on each one one moving front to back so you dont put too much pressure on any one point. Some of the valves will be open so those will be pushing the shaft up as you loosen the bolts. Once the pressure is off you can remove the bolts the rest of the way. If you are not changing the cam or lifters its not a bad idea to take a cardboard box and stab 12 holes in it to hold the pushrods in the order they came out. Same with the lifters if you are not going to replace the cam. All those parts wear together and do better if they all go back to the same places they had been. You dont have to worry about the springs. Just leave em on the head and bring it all to the shop. They likely have a tool to whip em out faster than you can and they know how hard to bash them if they dont want to come out. Depending on how much they take off the head and deck you may have to look at shorter pushrods anyway so dont worry too much about keeping them in order. The lifters and cam are the ones that are critical to keep in order if you are going to re use them. Once the head is off you will be able to see and get to the lifters. If you are not going to tip the engine or remove the cam you can leave them in. If you are going to tip it or change th cam you have to remove them. Easiest way is one of those magnet on a stick things. Sometimes it takes a bit more work but its not that hard.
 
Are lifters those things with round tops that are in each hole chamber that the cam pushes up and down? Yeah, you lost me there :)

As for the rockers, he said he would clean them up for me. If not, I can bring in some new rockers and he would install them along with the pistons. Any suggestions on which rockers to use?

Like I said before, I am willing to upgrade to a mild cam, I just have to find out which one I should go for. Well, guess that's what reading is for. :)
 
The first log head I ported the exhaust on myself I just port matched to the exhaust gasket. Not as productive as pocket porting and going deep within the exhaust port but it's easy and hard to screw up. When you get the head off and get all the work done so it's all cleaned up, just get a new exhaust gasket and lay it over the exhaust ports. you will see the ports are not uniform sized and a bit smaller than the gasket, now use a marker and trace inside the gasket around all the ports. Now buy a small assortment of grinding bits and you can sit at the kitchen table with a variable speed drill and grind the ports out to the gasket matching lines. This will take about 20-30 minutes per exhaust port, getting it to match the gasket and then smoothing the transition back into the port about an inch or so. You will be helping the exhaust flow and doing it yourself.
 
In our case there are 2 rockers per cylinder to operate the 2 valves per cylinder. The actual rocker arm is the part that pushes on the top of the valve. The valve is the thing you see with the big spring around it. The other end of the rocker arm gets pushed on by the push rod which then goes down to the lifter and cam. This is the same for all push rod engines. What varies is how the arms are attached. In this case its a shaft system which means all the arms pivot on a single shaft. This shaft is held down by 6 bolts. There is also some springs on this shaft but all they do is keep the arms in position under some circumstances.

The lifter is a smallish steel cylinder that rides in a hole in the engine block. The top of the lifter has a pocket in it that holds the bottom of the push rod. The bottom is what rides on the cam. There are 4 major variants. Flat tappet solid, which means its just a solid piece with a flat bottom. Flat tappet hydraulic, which means it has a flat bottom but has an inside section that takes in engine oil pressure and basically keeps even tension on the system so you dont have to keep adjusting the valves as temps change and things wear. This was the most common from the 60's to mid 80's and what all the 200's had. I think the 144 and maybe some of the 170 could have been solid. Solid roller, which is a solid unit but with a roller on the bottom that rides on the cam. Hydraulic roller, which is the hydraulic lifter with a roller. Starting in the mid 80's they all went to this design for several reasons. Some of the popular engines like say the 5.0 Ford V8 or the small block chevy you can choose any of those 4 options. In our engines the lifters live down in a pocket next to the cylinders in the block. Some inlines (like the ford 300) there is a cover on the side of the block that gives you access to the lifters. In a V engine they are under the intake manifold. Nothing (except maybe sludge and gravity) holds them in once you get the rockers off so thats why I was mentioning them so you dont turn the motor over and dump them out on the floor.
 
I'd recommend that you get a cam if you're wanting to increase performance. Its a good time to add it now while the engine is being rebuilt. If you get a very mild cam then you can probably get by with the stock valve springs. If you go with a hotter cam you can use 289 or 302 valve springs which are pretty cheap.
 
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