Valk Redo

[robin1731]

snip....... grind the valves,

Did Honda use the stelite coating on the 1500 valves? If so they should not be ground.

Hmm? Good point. I never heard of Stellite. The manual says the valves can not be ground, the say replace them. But I can say that mine have been ground, 50,000 60,000 miles ago. And all of my ported heads were reground, except the over sized valve heads.
I'll have to do some research on that.

Edit: the book says to lap the valves. From what I've read you shouldn't lap Stellite Coated valves.

Well, lapping only removes a very minute amount of material. If done right the coating still survives. Lots of valves here have been lapped. I have heard others talk of having them ground and lasting many miles too. I would like to actually see them after to make a judgement either way though.

And in my case no way would I do it on a customers engine.

[Jeff K]

I have a set of heads I ran for a while up in the attic, I might pull them down and check them out. Odd, I sent these heads to high dollar places to have them done. I didn't do any of the work myself. None of them said anything about the valves being coated. I guess the possibility is there that they didn't grind the valves and only did the seats.
the set of over sized valve heads I have was missing three of the valves when i got them back. The guys I went through went belly up so it took a while to get the valves from them. The ones they sent me are black, the ones in the head are black, but the valve seat area on the valve is shiny, like they had been ground.

I have to look into this.

[robin1731]

I don't think you can tell by looking if they have the coating. I've seen a lot of valves form KZ900/1000's and quite a few from GL's. They don't look much different. Some machine shops may not know about the coating either. I know my guy does as he said something about before I got the chance too first time I took a pair of GL heads to him.

To be honest I can't say exactly what it is for either.

On a side note, How much HP did you pick up with the ported heads and or bigger valves?

[Jeff K]

I never got the big valve heads bolted up to anything. I was hot and heavy into Valk performance back in the hay day, and had many contacts in various areas. Some of my friends out in Ca had a company that built custom bikes, Viking Motorcycle, they were building a bike for a customer and they were having these heads made for his bike. CNC ported big valves... They offered to have mine done too. I paid a somewhere close to $3,000 to get in on this great deal. Viking was on a reality show called the "metric Revolution" they went all out to build a show winning bike. As the show progressed it became obvious (to me) that the "fix was in", it was becoming obvious that the winner was picked before the show started or the bike were built. They spent so much time and money on winning the show hoping that it would be a big boost to business that it actually cost them the business (my opinion). Anyway, they went under while my heads were in their shop. I did get them back but they were missing some valves. I hounded them into sending me the missing valves but I never put them back together. I lost a supercharger in that deal too. I loaned them one of mine to fix a customers bike because that size super charger was discontinued, and they didn't want to have to retune his bike. so they promised to replace mine with a larger one. That never happened.

The first set of ported heads went on with a set of their pipes, and a larger S&S carb on my already supercharged bike. The HP went from 140 to 168. but that was a combo of pipes, heads, and carb. These were comparable to a set of Dan Paramore heads (DPR).
I did R&D for Dyna ignitions too. They sent me modules for free and I Ran them and gave my feedback. I still have a bunch of the different versions in a box somewhere.

I have to look into this valve thing. I have always wondered about them grinding the seats. Worrying about how much seat was left. I never gave the valves a thought assuming that they knew what they were doing.

[Red2trike]

I think the "valve seat" in the head is the only Stellite in the heads. I think that Honda was using "Stellite" long before other makers because of the new fuels that were coming on line.............low or no-lead gasolines (mid-late 60's). Me thinks the "seats" are put in place after freezing and then a "profiled grinding wheel" forms the correct valve angle. Dressing the backside of the valve on the valve face makes the seal and one checks this via the "machinest bluing". Yes the valve backside is hard, but not like the Stellite.

Porting and BIG valves for a street engine aren't really needed even with a supercharger...but if ya wanta go fast for the Salt flats...mmmmm.

RT2

[Jeff K]

I think the "valve seat" in the head is the only Stellite in the heads. I think that Honda was using "Stellite" long before other makers because of the new fuels that were coming on line.............low or no-lead gasolines (mid-late 60's). Me thinks the "seats" are put in place after freezing and then a "profiled grinding wheel" forms the correct valve angle. Dressing the backside of the valve on the valve face makes the seal and one checks this via the "machinest bluing". Yes the valve backside is hard, but not like the Stellite.

Porting and BIG valves for a street engine aren't really needed even with a supercharger...but if ya wanta go fast for the Salt flats...mmmmm.

RT2

Pressurizing the intake charge is great, but it helps to have more valve on the exhaust. Or so I'm told

[polkadot]

Here is an update. I decided that the valve replacement, checking the valve guides, laping, etc was over my head. So, the head was sent to a pro to do his thing. I ordered the parts today, and we should be good to go in short order. I let you know when I have the parts.

[wingrider]

I guess that is best if you are not comfortable taking that job on....at least you know it will be done right, and you can get her back on the road.

[polkadot]

Parts arrived yesterday. The local Honda shop had no problem beating my best on line price. I decided to replace all 6 valves while I was at it. The valves and stem seals are on there way to Robin to work his magic and reinstall in the head. I feel better already!

[Roady]

Very nice and good to give the local guys a shot.

[robin1731]

Very nice and good to give the local guys a shot.

Well, not really local.

It is nice to see the inside of a 1500 head though. Although I doubt polkadot feels it was a good way for it to happen.

[polkadot]

Very nice and good to give the local guys a shot.

Well, not really local.

It is nice to see the inside of a 1500 head though. Although I doubt polkadot feels it was a good way for it to happen.

I think he meant the local Honda shop. And I am glad I could help you on your 1500 education. You realize that this kind of training can be expensive, but I'll go easy on the lesson fee. Just glad I could help you!

[polkadot]

Head is on its way back! Thanks Robin!

[robin1731]

Head is on its way back! Thanks Robin!

Thank you. And make sure you get all the smaller packages from the box.

[polkadot]

Just got the right head back from Robin. Thanks for all the help you have given me! All looks great.



Now for a quiz. Guess which valve I helped with?



The answer will be given at the end of this thread.