How to resurface your heads

[SteveB123]

This is nothing new, I'm certainly not re-inventing the wheel here. Assuming your heads are in decent shape, and you just want to clean them up very well to meet your new gaskets.

I placed a piece of flat glass (a mirror is VERY flat glass!) on a suitable work area, with some padding under it for gentle support.
A light mist of spray contact cement fixes the 100 grit aluminum oxide paper to the glass.

The machine shop is open.


Back and forth, changing direction and orientation of the head gave a wonderful swirl/tooth to the surface.

I placed a machine ruler on the head, and couldn't see light. Flat enough!

Every once in a while, stop and blow off the accumulated "grindings", to keep the paper clear and working.

Took maybe 10 minutes. 68 cents for the sheet of paper.

Then took a few minutes to double check the work.
"Black Weekend Dykem" over the surface, and then a maybe 5 second pass on the "milling machine".

Cleaned, with the Sharpie residue now transfered to the paper, with some obvious minor "blacking" caught in the toothing. Since I don't want a mirrored, finish.... Success!

Hope this is useful to someone else.

[RoadRogue]

I have been using that technic for all sorts of gasket sufaces for years, thanx for sharing the low-tech solution with all of us. I am sure that will save somebody else a bit of time and money.

[WingAdmin]

This is a great, cheap low-tech technique, I'm going to move it into the DIY section.

[gwlegg]

Only Steve and without courage of offending, is a fabulous system but with a small point. The glass may not be sufficiently thick and can deform with the passage and the weight of the head. Just like Roadrogue is a system that I use to flatten boards a long time but I use a marble plaque, exactly the countertop kitchen I use dodging my counter. Best regards