altune

I purchased some heads from a reputable builder recently. The person had stated that the heads were from a customer that was trying to build a big small block, the heads were new, pro ported and flowed 340-345 cfm on the intake, etc.
He also had a ported intake, jesel rockers, off set lifters, and push rods etc. basically the whole deal for the new head setup.

I had him cut the heads to 62 cc for my piston and compression application.
the heads arrived and I was a bit excited about the whole deal.
after looking thru the stuff he has sent , I was not able to locate the push rods that were supposed to be part of the deal, I called him and he said they could not be part of the deal cause of the length needed would be Custom and that he was sorry that I misunderstood him.
ok no problem I told him, I would buy a set from him after I mocked the head up and used a push rod length checker. I did so and by his advice ordered some Manton salt treated very expensive rods.
After getting them in, I assembled the engine, and I routinely run a compression test to make sure of the valves seating etc.
ok, here is where it gets interesting, compression was very low on most cylinders, did a leak down, found all the intake valves leaking badly.
I pulled the heads and found he had cut thru the valve seat so badly the valve could not seal. I contacted him and he said, "you did not pay me to check the heads so all I did was cut them and reassemble"
so I told him I needed them done and he wanted me to send them, It would of cost a few hundred dollars to get them sent and returned so I asked him if I could get them dome locally would he help pay the bill, he said ok as long as I provided proof of the problem, I took pics and stupidly
had them in my work computer that had ended up being deleated by my employe, no problem, I figure my loss.
ok so I reassembled the engine. got good compression, fired it up and ran it for 2- 3 mins. I had some oil pressure issues and found the culprit.
when pulling the valve covers after the startup, I found the valve springs to be binding badly on the spring cup area ( there were no cups only shims) the builder had installed 1.650" BBC springs and they were tight in the holes, the aluminum around the holes was being beaten pretty good.
in any case, I figured after all this all I needed was this debris to go down into the engine and destroy my bearings,
Long story short, the springs did some damage to the aluminum and I found some indication the spring had actually cut into the roof of the intake port.
I contacted this guy and since they were not his heads , he was not responsible. That was all, he is sorry, he said he would of caught it if I had paid him to inspect the heads before he sent them etc. but i refused , he said. In any case, I am seeing what an be done to fix them, and also seeing how to get some of the repair money back.
P.S. the springs on the head had a seat pressure of 330 lbs ???????