Gents,
Regulars among you know I have been talking about my engine (or much of it) being at the machinist. Well, I go it back and with considerable concern. Take a look at the pictures, below, which are the results of the skimming job done in this shop. To me, this looks like pretty bad work, and I have some experience with a mill. I don't believe that the most perfectly annealed gasket will be soft enough to fill the voids left by the cutter, particularly since aluminum is another soft metal. Also, the barrels had similar problems, in some ways, worse, because there were high spots adjacent to the cylinders left over due to going north/south and east/west with the mill and not quite hitting the whole surface. I took a flat file to the top of the barrels and I suppose they will be OK. I have forwarded these pictures to the shop and am awaiting an answer. Even if he says he will redo it, I am not confident that that work will be better than my using a flat file or a piece of wet sanding paper layed on a perfectly flat surface. With the depth of these grooves, I don't think lapping will fix it. Any other thoughts on process?
I have also included a picture of the top of the head to show the result of the blasting job done in this shop. I thought I was going to get a textured, whitish and rough finish that has a classic look. Instead, I got this silvery look, which I don't like, but I guess I will live with it (on the crankcase, as well).
Making this more ridiculous is the fact that I chose this shop because it is supposed to be one of the best in the States, with a highly experienced and well-respected owner. I am not going to name the shop, for now. This shop also handled the grinding of my crankshaft, but I believe they sent that out to a crank grinding specialist, so, for now, I am not as worried about that (though I have yet to mic the journals).
Your thoughts and ideas are appreciated.
Richard
P.S. If you folks happen to have seen the show "American Hot Rod", you may want to know that Boyd Coddington, "custom rod genius" and host of the show, passed away on Wednesday. Kind'a sad.