P80 head gasket job , shop advice

Post by **abscate** » 18 Feb 2020, 19:08

Have a NA1998 head in for cleaning and decking

Shop guy tells me often Volvo heads warp on top and bottom at which point cams will nit sit right and lube. I don’t remember hearing this hear except once, cams that wouldn’t rotate right after a head job.

Can you guys share knowledge here please?

Post by **erikv11** » 18 Feb 2020, 21:02

Wrong shop.

Post by **RickHaleParker** » 18 Feb 2020, 22:07

Sounds like the shop is saying the Cam journals are out of alignment too.

The head would need straight as well as resurfaced. Straightening a cylinder head constant of bolting the head to a heavy metal plate and baking it in an oven until it straights out, then resurfacing it. Not all shop have the equipment to straight a head nowadays. It is more economical to get a straight used head and the matching Cam cover, then rebuild it.

Here a used Double Cam Cylinder Head is $75.00. A shop can easy exceed that in labor.

Post by **erikv11** » 19 Feb 2020, 01:25

The shop is saying this happens a lot, not that they diagnosed this head that way, isn't that the case? Or did they actually tell you they detected it here?

Of course there is no point trying to fix a badly warped P80 NA head.

Anyway, to me it sounds like the shop is talking nonsense.

Post by **abscate** » 19 Feb 2020, 04:11

erikv11 wrote: 19 Feb 2020, 01:25 The shop is saying this happens a lot, not that they diagnosed this head that way, isn't that the case? Or did they actually tell you they detected it here?

Of course there is no point trying to fix a badly warped P80 NA head.

Anyway, to me it sounds like the shop is talking nonsense.

Just cleaning and checking flatness right now, he was politely warning me that it could be warped top and bottom.

These guys know their stuff and might just be reporting based on a recent case they had.

I was expecting , and still hope, that we just need to skim the bottom and then be all set.

Post by **abscate** » 25 Feb 2020, 04:59

Closing loop. Head was badly warped by 0.018 out of flat

Toast