High performance vehicles with enhanced power, braking, and suspension systems rely on high performance racing heads. Cylinder heads house the combustion chamber, usually sit on top of the engine block, and play an important role in the amount of horsepower a high performance vehicle can generate.
High performance vehicles, like race cars, may be more powerful than your standard car, but the trade off is the cost of maintaining them. They require more expensive parts and higher levels of maintenance to keep them running at the top of their game. If you want to keep your car’s horsepower where it should be – you should take strides to improve your high performance cylinder heads.
Racing is dirty for your car! The wear and tear, the dirt and grime from the track and oily parts causes the need for intense clean up and servicing between every race to ensure competitiveness. If you don’t take the time to return your car to near-perfect, like-new condition, you’ll find yourself at the back of the pack at the next race. The dirt and grime that gets into your engine isn’t always visible from outside. The heat from the engine combined with the dirt can turn vital car parts into scrap metal! You can prevent this type of wear and tear through a good maintenance program designed to improve high performance racing heads and the rest of the parts inside your high performance vehicle engine.
Part of your maintenance schedule should always involve the detailed cleaning and refreshing of the high performance racing heads.
Jet Wash
Remove high performance racing head from motor so you can work with it freely. Place it in a jet washer for ten minutes. A jet washer is used to remove rust, oils, and any other dirt or grime with a solution that would burn your skin if you touched it.
Shot-Peener
If the head comes out with dirt and grime remaining, and it is a cast-iron head, run it through the jet washer cycle again or put it in a shot-peening machine. Never put an aluminum head through a shot-peener.
Glass Beader
Put the head through a glass beader machine to clean the combustion chambers. Once it goes through this machine, the chambers can be checked for cracks with a Magnaflux test.
Remove By Hand
If after all of this technology the high performance racing head still has some remaining gunk caked-on, use a screw driver or other tool to scrape it off by hand.
Magnaflux Test
If you are working with cast iron high performance racing heads, the combustion chamber of the high performance racing heads receive a dusting of very-fine metal shavings. A magnet will cause the shavings to stick to the combustion chamber walls, which will then show if there are any cracks or not. Magnaflux tests will not work with aluminum heads because the metal shavings dust will not stick to aluminum.
Valves Stems
A thorough testing of the high performance racing heads will also include a check of the valve stems using a micrometer. If there is too much variance in the thickness of the valve stem, it gets tossed and a new one is put in. A 3 to 5 angle valve job is then completed, and the high performance racing head is ready for installation.