My 60K is coming up soon, and for the top end I was thinking of building up a set of heads, tanked, with some cams (wishful thinking), valve guides/seals, valve lapping, lash, maybe gasket matching... do I need a machine shop or is it a DIY project?
Valve job : DIY compatible?
- Thread starter Devin
- Start date
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All that stuff is DIY if you have the Rotunda kit. Everything you need is in my it. If you want anything more than lapping then a machine shop is a must.
What else would you do to a valve aside from lap? Grinding?
luigisho
SHO Member
yes. different angle valve jobs. You have to ask what their brand of valve job includes because I've seen different processes called the same thing. You think it's one thing and you get another. I wouldn't invest that much more $ in it unless it's a hobby car you and you want to throw money at it for fun.
I'm only up to about 12K so far 
in all of the heads I've had apart so far, the valves looked good and a little lap job was all that was needed.
I think you will be fine to do that yourself, except for the hot tanking and cleaning up the mounting surface.
I think you will be fine to do that yourself, except for the hot tanking and cleaning up the mounting surface.
luigisho
SHO Member
Well, you have to decide between good or average vs best or most expensive in parts and upgrades. You can easily go broke getting fancy work done to the intake, heads, internals etc and compare that with the actual gains and decide if that's ok.I'm only up to about 12K so far
It's a personal choice but I'm at the place where stock is fine because no matter what you do-- the suspension choices stink, the replacement aftermarket seals stink, some of the headgaskets are about extinct, and the performance is equal to or less than a 10 yr old v-6 Camry
Luigi, good for you being in a good place, for you.
In reality, Toyota has never made a Camry that could scare a stock SHO, and they look like crap too.
Devin,
Definitely do the seals & lap the valves, maybe replace the springs too. You might also consider port matching as a more appropriate alternative to gasket matching. Gasket matching is what neanderthal shadetrees try to do on their old pick-up, but doesn't belong anywhere near an SHO engine or 2015 for that matter.
Gator
In reality, Toyota has never made a Camry that could scare a stock SHO, and they look like crap too.
Devin,
Definitely do the seals & lap the valves, maybe replace the springs too. You might also consider port matching as a more appropriate alternative to gasket matching. Gasket matching is what neanderthal shadetrees try to do on their old pick-up, but doesn't belong anywhere near an SHO engine or 2015 for that matter.
Gator
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