the compression in my 62 dodge lancer is reaaallly bad, around 30-60-90-120-60-125. it's causing issues with my starting. i'm currently looking for a good shop that won't charge an arm and a leg for a head rebuild. JUST the head, she's running clean, no blue smoke/ring warnings, etc.

i've talked to central cylinder head, they quoted me $180 top end price for the job. this is FAR better pricing than the other two places i checked, but i've been getting mixed reviews on their work. jay at jay's garage swears by them and says he has been taking work to them for 25 years. another friend says he's heard nothing good about them, they just do the bare minimum and no guarantee, with bad results. i trust both these fella's opinions.

would like to hear other opinions and referrals.

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1962 dodge lancer GT

just a heads up-are you having the harden valve seats put in? You only need to do the exhaust valve seats to change over to unleaded gas. And do not have the valve guides knurled to bring them back to size-replace them to do it right. How good are you with power tools? I chuck my valves into a electric drill and polish them. Why? It cuts down on heat getting to them and it makes it harder for carbon to stick. You can do this to the whole combustion chamber. Again less heat will go into the head and more will go out the tail pipe. It does take time but if you are not in a hurry it is cheap to do.

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50 chrysler,54 Plymouth, 64 Valiant conv 4 speed, 66 Valiant V8 wagon, 70 Challenger R/T 440+6 conv 4 speed,80 Colt, 98 Neon ACR,84 Honda V45 Magna
Taking care of 57 300C conv,48 T&C conv. Missing my 67 GTX and 36 Ply coupe

i'm not nearly as savvy as all that. wildcat recommends:

http://bnmengines.com/ at $125 for the job.

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1962 dodge lancer GT

I am no longer west coast so all I can say is-they look to be heavy into chevy. They do not even mention Mopar. That said any good machine shop should be able to do what you need. Minimum work needed is :clean/magna-flux (check for cracks), new harden seats on all exhaust valves (needed for unleaded gas) replace valve guides as needed (do not knurl), replace valves as needed. If you are cash strapped and feel lucky you can skip magna-flux. All new valve stem seals and check valve springs. Please note you do not need to put harden seats on the intake valves-they run to cool to need it.

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50 chrysler,54 Plymouth, 64 Valiant conv 4 speed, 66 Valiant V8 wagon, 70 Challenger R/T 440+6 conv 4 speed,80 Colt, 98 Neon ACR,84 Honda V45 Magna
Taking care of 57 300C conv,48 T&C conv. Missing my 67 GTX and 36 Ply coupe

This is what Portland Engine Rebuilders charged me 2 years ago:

Serdi Valve Grind 6 cyl OHV $92.00
K-line bronze valve guides $48.00
Machine for hard exh seat $63.00
Surface head $36.00
Clean and magnaflux head $25.00
Valve seats $11.40

If you don't need valve guides you can save the $48, but chances are excellent you'll at least need exhaust guides. If the head is straight and flat enough you might not need it surfaced. You'll want the hard exhaust valve seats.

I'm really curious to know what Central Cylinder Head and B&M Engines give you for your money.

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Joshua

that's not bad, josh! they also seemed extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and fully equipped. my financial situation just changed, so perhaps i'll look into them a bit more. ...then again, i do have suspension issues to resolve. can't wait! she's such a wonderful car.

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1962 dodge lancer GT

ps it's nice to see your '67.

<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/0903/nux_vomica/?action=view&current=67leads.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/nux_vomica/67leads.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

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1962 dodge lancer GT

I had all the machine work done for my build at Don's Machine Shop on Stark, in Gresham. My receipt is buried right now, so I'm not sure how they compare price wise.

They found my tranny inspection cover still in their shop a week after I picked everything up, and mailed it to me at no cost. That's the kind of honest upstanding folks they are.

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thanks for the lead!

i like your truck...my backup is a loaner 76 dodge truck. that four on the floor is fun...good thing i knew how to double clutch after my '49 plymouth 3 on the tree!

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1962 dodge lancer GT

hey zorg, did you recently have majhor murray's work on your truck? saw the same one, same color etc. on the lot and around the area last week.

so josh, matt, MM's: took your advice and my better judgment, got that valve head into portland engine rebuilders, $486.85 later,





mark brought my attention to the iron cross in the stamp. what's that all about? and many thanks to mark for doing all this work on my poor girl. he did my brakes first, so the new compression should not be too much for them.

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1962 dodge lancer GT

I once had a 68 motor with the maltese cross. The maltese cross was one of several marks put on the block at the factory to denote some variation from the stock measurements. On the 68 motor it meant the crank journals were .010 undersize from the factory. I believe it meant other things in other years. They were put on as part of the quality control process at the engine plant. I know the X means something too, but I can't remember what. Get a factory service manual for the year of the motor and look it up in the engine specifications section.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

from mark:

Means you have Jen u wine HOTROD! seriously it means the crank bearings are non standard size.

which i translate to mean...after this head rebuild, she's going to kick some dirt! i seriously cannot wait. this is the last big thing. then on to leaf springs and front end alignment, but at least she'll start and stop now, haha!

i'm looking things up, too. thanks!

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1962 dodge lancer GT

A Maltese Cross means undersize crank journals and bearings. The X is a roman numeral and indicates .010" undersize.

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Joshua

Other Stampings
Additional stampings may be found on the ID pad.
They identify non standard engine components.

A - .020 oversize cylinder bores
Diamond - oversize tappets
E - Cast Crankshaft
HP - High Performance
L or LC - low compression
M - .001 undersize main bearing journals
Maltese Cross - .001" undersized bearing shells
Maltese Cross and an X - .010" undersized crankshaft
O.S. - .005 oversize valve stems
P - premium fuel
R - regular fuel
RX or MX - all main or rod journals .010" undersized
S - special engine
WT or TW - water test
X - .010" undersize crankshaft

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1962 dodge lancer GT

That book has absolutly nothing to do with slant six engines. It is about the "six pack" engines and setups.
Six Pack = 3 two barrel carbs.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225