The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Can anyone recommend a reputable company or individual who can recondition or refurbish Sprint cylinder heads

Thank you
Simon

I guess it depends on what you want/need to have done to the head?

My own experience has been mixed. I had no issues with the work the first company did, they did as asked. The issue that arose was the valve seat inserts were too worn down and I couldn't get the right valve clearances. They didn't seem to be very helpful so I took it somewhere else to have that work done and they were brilliant. They totally understood what I wanted and what was needed. I was very pleased with the results and was easily able to obtain the right clearances then.

I can't remember where you're based exactly but the second company I used is called Chase Engines based in Stoke on Trent They only deal with old engines and have all the gear to do the necessary work. I provided some technical info so they could machine the inserts to the right size and trial fit a valve assembly to check they were on the right line as it were.

Chances are you'll need valve guides changing but you might get away without changing the seat inserts. With 16 inserts the price does get quite high if you need to do those. It really does depend on whether the seats are very worn/pitted or have been cut before.

My head had the following work done:

New valve guides (inlet and exhaust)
New valves
New valve springs
New oil seals
New bucket followers
New cam
New valve seats
Combustion chambers matched
Pressure test
Light skim
Some porting work done, in addition I had the inlet manifold ported and polished too so it was matched to the head.

If interested I do have a spare set of Arrow followers available. These are lighter and better quality than the repro ones generally available but are usually very expensive.

Are you planning on doing any of the assembly yourself? I assembled mine entirely myself just farmed out the machining.

_________________
Mark

1961 Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier Sportswagon
1980 Dolomite Sprint project using brand new shell
2009 Mazda MX5 2.0 Sport
2018 Infiniti Q30

Whoever you choose, get them to do a hardness check ( simple drop ball test) and if it is low, find another secondhand head to work from before you throw away your hard earned money on something that may not last. That will indicate whether the head has been through a lot of heat cycles and also whether the heat cycles have been excessive. A 'soft' head will be more prone to head gasket leakage.
Also bear in mind how much has already been skimmed from the head previously. The manufacturing tolerance for thickness of new heads was a minimum of 120.5mm. There are posts on here of people still using standard head gaskets with 2mm skimmed off (ie 118.5mm), but that is worth consideration before spend a lot on refurbishing.

Geoff