I have been having oil consumption problems and fouling plugs on 6 of 8 cylinders. The engine has less the 2000miles on it. The bottom end is a brand new ZZ4 shortblock. The heads are TrickFlow 23 degree. I have redone the intake gasket on the Holley Stealth Ram base 3 times since I thought that the oil was comming from the intake gasket. I even outlined the intake ports with RTV on the gasket the last time I did the job.
Now I believe the bottom end is good due to a compression test comming back with numbers in the 180psi +/- 3psi on every cylinder. So now I pulled the valve covers and took the springs off of cylinder 3 since it had the most oil soaked plug. The seals look fine. I pulled them off to have a look at the guides. Now I have never assembled a head before and am looking for some way to tell if the guides are warn. I can wiggle the intake valve stem a bit so I actually see it moving in the guide. The exhaust is actually worse. How tight are they supposed to be? Also I noticed after removing the shims for the springs that the exhaust valve guide is sitting lower than the intake?
If this is acutal wear what could have caused it? I am using Crane Gold 1.6RR with TrickFlow 7.3in pushrods. The roller tip contact pattern is actuall towards the exhaust side of the valve a bit. Also the valve train has always been loud, I had thought it was due to the RR but now I am not sure??

Any help?
Thanks!!

Also how much does it usually cost to have new guides pressed in?

 

There is no way your guides should be that worn in 2000 miles. Were these new heads or used? Does the car pour out blue smoke when you let off the gas and you are decelerating or accelerating, or idling? As far as why they would wear, are they selfaligning rockers?

 

less than zero chance it bad valve guides, but if you want to checn them use an indicator and see how much play there is. i'd go back and revist the intake gasket, most logical place for a oil consumption problem.

 

This has been posted about alot regarding those heads.

The problem is probably your rockers. Only certain rockers are compatible with those heads. Do a search for user Artie@TFS; even though he doesn't seem to quite "get it" just yet that an aftermarket head company should understand the uses that their products get put to better than TFS seems to, there's alot of good info about the heads in his posts.

 

Now I have never assembled a head before and am looking for some way to tell if the guides are warn. I can wiggle the intake valve stem a bit so I actually see it moving in the guide. The exhaust is actually worse. How tight are they supposed to be? Also I noticed after removing the shims for the springs that the exhaust valve guide is sitting lower than the intake?
If this is acutal wear what could have caused it? I am using Crane Gold 1.6RR with TrickFlow 7.3in pushrods.

 

Also the spark plugs are clean on the tip towards the bottom of the cylinder and are carbon fouled on the top. There is oil on the threads all around.

 

I don't have a manual in front of me right now, by as I recall, guide clearance on a stock iron head is in the area of 0.002".

 

.001 to .0027 is the valve to guide clearance for stock heads. i doubt aftermarket are much differant.

 

So basically If I can see the valve stem wiggling the guides are worn

 

Not really. You should have a slight amount of wiggle the actual amount is in a couple threads above. ".001 to .0027" Its the same for aftermarket heads too.

 

basically if you see the valve wiggle in excess of .0027 the guide is worn beyond spec.

 

Ok how do I go about measuring this?

 

dial indicator

 

at the tip of the stem? Where the stem comes out the guide? Sprin on / off? valve open / seated?

 

i check it above the guide and below the keeper grooves. i try to move the valve side to side ,not rock it in the bore so you'd need it to be slightly off the seat.