Mk2 cylinder heads original thickness

[Timo]

I have a pair of mk2 cylinder heads (3210 &3211) which I removed from a low mileage engine many years ago and recently took them to a engineering shop to check for flatness and warpage and the chap who tested them commented that they had never been skimmed and didnt need any skimming or welding. I just wondered what the original thickness would have been and where is it measured from.also I would like to get the water and oil ways cleaned up just wondered what I could soak them in bearing in mind both still have camshafts etc installed.

[marshman]

First part of this thread gives some information on head thickness and how to measure it.

https://www.socforum.com/forum/forum...head-thickness

More info here:

https://www.socforum.com/forum/forum/stag-owners-club/soc-forum/29091-minimum-head-thickness

If you are going to clean the heads up properly then you will need to remove the camshafts, buckets and valves/springs. This is especially true as they have been stored for "many years". It is straightforward but will require an appropriate valve spring compressor. You will have to remove the camshafts to properly measure the head thickness anyway.

Roger

[Stagdad]

Wouldnt you want to put new springs on anyway as some have been compressed for years and some havent. Im in the same boat and will get new ones.

[Timo]

At the moment I have no use for them as my engine is running fine so they are just spare. I just wanted to partially immerse them in something even for a few months if need be to loosen the lime scale that may have built up in the cavities, i didn’t want to strip them down at the moment when they are not going to be used.

[tractorjames]

There are plenty of good chemicals for that sort of thing. One of my favourites for loosening old dirty oil residue is autosmart g101. A good soakingnof that loosens most things.