20 year nap / 85 Montero resurrection

[geezer101]

What's with the valves on the new head? Are you replacing them all or did it come with mismatching valves? I'd be attacking that fresh head with a die grinder and radiusing all of the sharp edges in the chambers and having a look at the valve bowls and ports. Good luck with your first engine start, hope it cranks over without a fight

[Salteen]

So I was looking into my truck today and i think i have a cracked block, and thats why its running like crap. so yeah, if i had the option i would go 8V, or i would do a DOHC swap and a 4V if thats possible? (Potential custom future mod?????)

[Dr.G]

Well.... I'm reporting back a week later than estimated because I had an issue. I assembled the cylinder head I ordered and installed it last Thursday night. Everything went perfect. Fired up first try and ran so smooth. I did a little break in, got the lifters pumped up, and let all the new parts get acquainted to their new home. On my 15 mile drive home I made a stop 1/3 of the way to check fluids and give it once over before I got too far from the shop. Then at 3/4 of the way home I had a dead misfire. Pulled over cylinder 4 had nothing. Limped home, performed a cylinder leak down test ( 100% leakage through exhaust ), and pulled the head to find #4 exhaust valve ruined. My machinist buddy looked at it and said it's likely the clearance wasn't enough and the valve was seizing in the guide. I will be the first to admit I only checked clearance of a few valves and assumed the rest were good. I did buy the same brand valves to match the brand of the head for the application they were going in. I did measure stem width, length, and height to confirm they were within oem specs. So I'm going with the excuse shitty Rockauto parts...

After debating about it with a real Machinist I decided to warranty the head and exhaust valves through Rockauto instead of ordering new guides and a valve then rebuilding the head. Surprisingly Rockauto exchanged the head and all 4 exhaust without question and I got all the new parts Wednesday. Assembled the head again making sure to double check everything and since I had this issue and I have the head off again I ordered all new valve springs and lifters. Good news now is that everything is good. With about 40 miles on the 2nd new head the Montero runs great.
@geezer101 to answer your question Yes a few of the valves looked slightly different. Especially that one intake valve. I considered returning it but said F it and used it anyway. Luckily I didn't spend the time to clean up the ports because it would have been a waste and possibly a warranty issue. As far as the non-jet head vs the jet head. I feel like the engine runs smoother than before. Is it because of the jet valves or the fact it has a new head I don't know. Then power wise it feels the same. Overall I'm happy with it besides the obvious hick-up.

[FMS88]

It's a shame you had to replace the head twice, but good that RA was decent about replacing the defective one. At least the final outcome is looking very good. Here's to many carefree miles ahead!

[geezer101]

Yeah having to pull a brand new head sucks. I have seen brand new heads that looked like GARBAGE and were not cheap to buy either. In hindsight it was wise not to modify the new head but a shop with a good rep would've put a few hours in on it before bolting it down. Glad to hear you are now experiencing some happy motoring after all of this