Since I've dismantled all manifolds, disconnected all vacuum tubes, electrical connectors (etc) to get the manifolds resurfaced and cleaned, I'm now considering going all the way and having the head rebuilt. Once the exhaust manifold was off, I could see quite a bit of carbon on the exhaust valves and assume the intake valves look about the same. The shop that's doing all the resurfacing/cleaning on the manifolds quoted me approx $300 for a complete head rebuild. I saw the work in their shop on other units and it looks to be excellent. You guys think $300 is a reasonable price for a total rebuild (including warp check, etc) or should I shop around a lot more? They do quite a bit of performance work and had several Toyota's on the bench while I was there. My compression is 180-180-185-180, so I hope that means my bottom end is in good shape and a total rebuild not necessary. As a comparison, I'm paying $180 to have intake, exhaust, and air control valve checked for warpage, resurfaced, cleaned and two busted bolts (and busted easy-outs) removed from the exhaust manifold. Does this sound decent or should I have shopped around a lot more? Keep in mind I'm in Sacramento, CA and probably only the Bay Area and L.A. are more expensive in the U.S. Thanks for any input, and yes, "you're stupid" is acceptable.
$300 isn't bad. Thats what I paid at Willie's cost (since he is a prof. mechanic) to get my head re-done, and I did all the removal/install work. Sounds like a great price I'd definitely go for it.
No your not stupid- 300 is a good price, while is going to have everything pulled out of the head you could change those 20 year old valve springs, and seals just adds a little protection from the valve floating.
Don't know how the conversion works, but BGB says compression pressure should be 178 psi or greater w/ 14 psi or less difference between highest and lowest. Is that were the 9:1 or 10:1 comes from? Wikipedia (if one assumes it's accurate) has the first gen 3SGE is 9.2:1, and all three later versions at 10.0:1. At 180-180-185-180, do my compression numbers come out somewhere around 9.2:1?
