Valve seat installation

[Zeke...PA]

Has anyone had valve seats installed lately? My 8BA block seats are pitted badly and I'm sure will need seats installed, any idea of costs ? Thanks Zeke

[bobH]

I had two seats installed in a 59A... was charged 40 labor. I have no idea if this is 'typical' - I never checked or compared prices. What I remember the most is that I had a little trouble coming up with 'good' seats. My machine shop guy did not like the seats that I got from Red's, and I sure don't like the seats that the machine shop came up with. The seats that are installed are too 'thick', making the valve sit too high. I'm either going to grind them (hard seat grinder), or change them again, to get the valve sitting down where I think it should be. JMO

[Ross in East Texas]

All seats that I have ever bought and installed are thick purposefully to allow proper fitting when the seats are initially ground. By having these thick seats you can fit your valves like you prefer to the height desired. This is intentional and should not be considered a poor choice for a replacement seat.

[Bruce Lancaster]

If you can get them (does Joblot still have?) the OEM seats or the slight oversize versions Ford sold too will have better height. If the 8BA is one of the late ones with no seats from the factory, then block can be cut to get proper height with whatever the shop normally uses.

[Karl Wolf]

Seats can be machined in a lathe. There is an outfit in LA, Ca that will make any size seats you want, I did it ten years ago- about $10 each sixteen of them...
NOW, I put them in myself- fairly low tech... Let me know if you want to know how... Karl

[Pete]

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First, you have to find a shop that is equipped with a modern valve machine and knows how to do the job right. The seat rings are fairly easy to come by.
A given ring will usually cover a wide range of finished sizes so the operator needs to know what is required of the finished job.
Like Karl says, for odd sizes they are easy to make yourself.

[Bruce Lancaster]

Also, the shop's equipment would make taking a too-thick/high seat ring down to same level as those not replaced very easy, much easier than doing it with an old valve-job type seat cutter. Why did they leave new seats higher than stock??

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lancaster

Also, the shop's equipment would make taking a too-thick/high seat ring down to same level as those not replaced very easy, much easier than doing it with an old valve-job type seat cutter. Why did they leave new seats higher than stock??

If you mean the height of the ring, that was to have plenty of meat in case a seat was damaged and the clean up cut needed to go deeper to clean up.

[Bruce Lancaster]

But Bobh is saying that the actual seats on his are higher than stock, raising the valves above normal and presumably making it harder for flow out of port...seems like seats should be down at stock level for best results. Thicker below would be rebuilding insurance but seems undesirable to be thicker in an elevated location?

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lancaster

But Bobh is saying that the actual seats on his are higher than stock, raising the valves above normal and presumably making it harder for flow out of port...seems like seats should be down at stock level for best results. Thicker below would be rebuilding insurance but seems undesirable to be thicker in an elevated location?

Ok, I see now and yes they should not be up like that.
It would appear someone got lazy when putting them in.

[Ross in East Texas]

The person doing the cutting/grinding of the seat got lazy and left them too high. It is the job of the technician installing the new seats to fit them properly for both height of seat and width of the seating surface. I always put a three angle grind on all seats which I install. This allows me to position the seating surface in the center of the valve face and to keep proper width of the seat to provide maximum life and sealing. As an added benefit the three angle seat makes for more efficient flow through the valves.

[bobH]

Thanks, guys.... This discussion leads me to think I ought to replace the two new seats - I think they should have been 'dimensionally-correct' to start with, maybe with just a little 'extra' meat, so I could finish-face them in a normal way. I'm guessing the two seats I'm talking about are oversized by maybe 70-100 thou in thickness. I'll chalk this experience off to going to a machinist that is not particularly 'flathead-savy' ?? On the plus side, he is a very good machinist, that I have used for over 30 years (for later ohv engines).

[Ronnie]

Here is a "you tube" to see a finished installation.

Pretty simple just needs specified equipment.Most shops can do this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KApFgqP8Yyw

Ronnie