Cylinder Head, Am I in trouble?

[Sherman Kaplan]

When I received my TCS the engine was out of the car and sent to me in a crate.  I recently had to move the crate so I decided to take the engine out.   Unfortunately, the engine would not turn. I put the engine on a stand and spent a few weeks soaking the cylinders with Marvel Mystery Oil and then ATF/Acetone.  I even took the sump off and turned it over to soak from the other side.  Nothing would budge so today I took the head off.  Please see the attached picture.   As the subject line said, am I in trouble?   Can someone recommend a good shop that I can send the head to have it rebuilt?  I'm in Colorado but don't mind shipping as far as either coast.  I just want a shop that is reliable, etc.   I'm still soaking the cylinders and will deal with the block later.

By the way, I believe  the engine has only 24,000 miles.  The car was last driven in 1980 and then stored. Car came from Buffalo, NY.  As far as I know it was not stored in a heated garage 

Thanks,
Sherman
73 TSC
Windsor, Colorado

[EuropaTC]

Can you post a larger image Sherman ?  I can't make anything out of the one here.

If it's corrosion around waterways then that's common and present to some extent in my cars and most older heads that I've seen. I usually lay the gasket in place and take a view of whether the gasket will seal the damage.

Brian

[Gmg31]

I’m not sure of cost where you are but in the UK I got my head skimmed and the valves reseated  for £150. If I’m honest I wish I’d done it at the start of the project it would have saved me a lot of grief later on.  It’s worth doing just for the piece of mind.

[jbcollier]

Photo is too small, as mentioned, to see any detail.  Only skim the head if it needs it.  There is a minimum thickness and the heads warp moderately easily so there are lots of scrap heads around.  Clean it up and measure it up.  Specs are in the manual.

[Sherman Kaplan]

here are some hopefully larger pictures.   Can anyone recommend a good shop to send head too?

Thanks,
Sherman

[EuropaTC]

I can't help on the shop front (well I could, but postage to the UK might be a nuisance    )  but looking at the waterway in the photo it doesn't look that bad to me.  I would be tempted to guess that the corrosion is due to water in a cylinder, was the engine left with a plug removed/carbs off ?  I'm just wondering about water ingress if the inlet valve was left open and no carbs in place.

I'll second what John has said, skimming TC heads isn't something to do just for the sake of it and if you must do it then take off the absolute minimum.

If this is a Big Valve head then in the UK at least they had a higher compression ratio and a shorter head depth, hence less available metal to remove when skimming. My advice on skimming would be to check to see if it's flat before doing anything because unless the engine has suffered overheating/head gasket failure then it's most probably going to be ok. Even when my water pump failed and caused steam/overheating the head was ok despite the mistreatment.

If you do want to overhaul the head then valve guides are usually the first problem area with oil burning. Valve seats/new valves usually go hand in hand with new guides, that's what I've done with both my engines but it's not a cheap overhaul.

Brian

[Grumblebuns]

Why not initially bring the head in to a local auto machine/repair shop specializing in foreign/exotic cars to have the head cleaned up and condition assessed first. For head work, I sent my TC head to Rich at Kampena Motors to repair damage to the combustion chamber. He's located in Sonoma, Ca, what used to be Sears Point Raceway.   

[Sherman Kaplan]

Thanks everyone,
Sherman