Don't be a victim of hacks!! Choose your engine builder wisely.

[@donnieschmutzler9221]

"The burden of knowledge is needing to put up with ineptitude"

[@theunhingedgamer3762]

funny thing is even without knowledge one has to put up with ineptitude because in today's society the inept have to deal with the intelligent and then label the intelligent as dumb because they don't understand their ways or deny the truth

[@ChrisBramhall]

Best I ever heard it said

[@Freecomments4u]

holy shit thats profound

[@ThatTurboZoh]

Tuition is another great way to put it. Paying for higher education.

[@dogmoo]

Can’t you know and be inept? Knowledge is the practice of knowing. Ineptitude is incompetence of action. These are different.

[@rickwall4176]

Ah your greatest quote yet. “One of the curses of being good at fixing stuff is you feel compelled to fix the bad work of others leading to a life time of-financial mediocrity” I feel your pain. I have to remind myself To stop trying to re-engineer a part that is clearly a bad design to me anyway and just make it per print.

[@alansmith3959]

I can't agree more with your comment, been there as well.

[@rightpedalconstruction890]

I am constantly doing this in my home improvement business. So I feel your pain.

[@justinmanse2849]

story of my life lol even tho its not this trade

[@hk45c62]

Pete's honesty is Priceless. You and Steve Morris are Real Good at teaching stuff.

[@coyotemike2012]

Only part of this statement is true

[@TheRealDonJohnson]

Steve can't keep an engine together lol

[@Dustin-e8g]

​@@TheRealDonJohnson lol you cleeter cucks are ridiculous

[@BassManBobBassCovers]

For a second there I thought the comment said Pete is a princess 🙂🤦‍♂

[@AndrewH9999]

​@TheRealDonJohnson when your making over 2500hp that happens alot...

[@scottdunlop7442]

Real good at watching real good stuff!!

[@Deuce1550]

That's a great trick with the bench grinder to flatten the end was great. Thank you

[@button-puncher]

BTW, if you groove your grinding wheel, you can use a diamond nib and jig to make the wheel flat again. Nice flat wheel for making other things flat.

[@The340king]

I just went through some pistons from an engine I originally assembled years ago. As I worked through them to put them away, I noticed that the rings were messed up and there was a piston that had been put in the wrong cylinder. The exhaust valve eyebrow had marks in it from long-term interference. One of the pistons was replaced after the head of a valve snapped off. The fact that the rings were messed up meant that it had been apart after I originally assembled it. Apparently, they mixed up a couple of pistons and didn't realize the valve reliefs were made different sizes for the intake and exhaust valves. They were a spherical dish piston, which makes seeing the difference harder. It happens out there.

[@glenryan6569]

I seen a video of Steve Morris working on one of his SMX motors and saying the exact same thing as you just said, he took the heads apart to look things over then they went back together as they were.

[@FuenteSmoker]

Link the video

[@stephenlea5765]

Thanks for the tutorial Pete!

[@robertwest3093]

What a beautiful fix to an ugly problem. I was half expecting you to be putting new seats in there but then you pulled out the grinder and took care of all of his problems. 👍🏻

[@rustynut1967]

I thought new seats too. I would think the piston would need to be replaced anyway and get it to the proper comp.

[@RipeSnipe]

I was curious as to why he didn't do new seats as well as any grinder work after. maybe the valvetrain was already set up and happy at the taller valve stem height?

[@tc263]

@@RipeSnipeHe said it had ridiculous compression. That head has on a engine with high boost levels because you can see the receiver groove machines in it for the fire hoop for sealing the combustion chamber. Unshrouding the valves by removing material will lower the combustion chamber volume. New seats would require valve train sorting again and still have too much mechanical compression. That’s my guess. I would have liked to see the chambers CC’d before and after and what the piston looked like. I’d bet if he still used the same piston type he clearanced the quench area of the chamber some also. You can also pick up low lift numbers by softening the edges of the valve relief cuts in pistons if they are shrouding the valves. The intake valve begins opening before tdc. It all depends on the piston. I could be wrong about all of this though

[@CGT80]

@@tc263 "Unshrouding the valves by removing material will lower the combustion chamber volume." I think you got this part backwards. It increased the volume, reducing compression ratio. I would agree with the rest of what you stated. He was doing the minimum required to fix the problem, but not starting over (doing the maximum by having to change all the other issues mentioned).

[@tc263]

@ yep I had it backwards. Thank you 👍

[@HotRodDave]

Slide some old valves in and protect the seat if you don't have a steady hand with the grinder while unshrouding the valve. I have heard of people putting duct tape on the seat but I'm not sure that would be enough protection

[@picklefart]

Excellent tip. It’s been around forever but that’s how we keep it around.

[@hughobrien4139]

I was taught to use old valves that had been thinned down around the margin. Face the valve and use it to protect the valve job. You have to be careful not to grind lower than the top seat angle. Which is the clear advantage Pete has by not using a chamber valve. I have made some mistakes working the chamber too shallow with a valve covering the seat. It happens have to go back and sink the seats a bit and remove more off the deck surface if compression ratio is an issue. Never heard of the duct tape.

[@OldFartAUS]

Great tip!

[@Thumper68]

Duct tape would work because when that happens you don’t touch long enough to eat through tape and then cause damage but if you hit tape you can’t get lazy and not put new tape cause it’s only good for once in a spot hit that’s for sure.

[@KCadbyRacing]

I figured out to use old valves to protect the seats doing motorcycle heads back in the mid 70s and it's especially easy using stock valves when installing over size valves. I did enough builds (from small ATCs up to fully built drag bikes) to be worth buying a flow bench and it was cool seeing the low lift flow improvements with unshrouding (along with both low and high lift, after installing oversize valves). ...edit... adding that, the valve angles on the old bikes required sinking the valves as much as .065-.070" to have enough valve to valve clearance with large valves and cams, so a lot of unshrouding had to be done on those heads...

[@davidresar8256]

The correct way of fixing stuff!

[@dennisjensen7938]

WOW Pete... I'm always amazed at the engine builds and turning you do...there is only 3 builder's channels I watch...you Steve Morris and Brand engine out of Ok.all 3 of show what you do inside of an engine....keep up the amazing videos and work

[@DavidSmith-eu4lq]

Definitely takes a lot of skill, patient, and a steady hand to do that and stay off the seat!! Great job as always!!

[@cgracing2198]

Great video! I put an old valve in to protect the seat. If you do a lot the valve will wear down at the edge so you can really get in there to blend into the combustion chamber nicely with a decent amount of protection and can go a lot faster.

[@Hotbeefsamich]

I like to make a "porting valve"... learned it from one of the best head porters.... Just grind a valve till it's almost razor thin on the edge. Keep all those old valves around for a bit and keep a selection! Lathe them down when needed or worn out from the chamber porting.

[@jack-k6z7n]

MY ENGINE BUILDER HAS BEEN BUILDING ENGINES SINCE 1980 AND ONLY USES THE SAME MACHINE SHOP AND HE STILL CHECKS ALL THEIR WORK. HE ONLY BUILDS BBC, SBM, SBC. HE PULLS APART MY ENGINE SENDS OUT THE PARTS TO THE MACHINE SHOP CHECKS THEM WHEN THEY COME BACK BUILD THE ENGINE BREAK IN THE CAM TUNES IT FOR ME I COME BACK AND PICK IT UP ALL DONE. JUST TURN THE KEY.

[@neilvenners3309]

I’ve often seen you doing your tuning work Pete and was aware from what was said that your skill set was wide. So I’ve been meaning for a long time to visit your channel and today on Boxing Day you arrive in my feed! You have a great ethos and similar to my approach, if you’re going to take the customers hard earned money then your work has to be right. I’ll stay longer if necessary at my own expense just to ensure the job is right. It’s only fair. And you’re clearly of the same mindset which means I’m really going to enjoy watching your work 🤙. Thank you and Merry Christmas 🎄🎁🥂🇬🇧

[@robertbryant7771]

Gotta be honest, at 7:25 I thought I was about to see you pulling out the seats and getting new ones set at the correct depth to restore correct installed spring height and get rid of the shrouding from seats too deep. But since you said earlier the heads needed to lose some compression it made sense that you started by working the chambers around the seats instead. None better in south central NC than HED. You guys are definitely RGADS!

[@KCadbyRacing]

He explained in an earlier vid that new, raised seats (especially in this case) will have a large step "outside of the seat" that would need welding to build that shroud area back up to where the new seats will be...

[@edsmachine93]

You are absolutely correct Pete. Great Tech advice. Heads came out nice. 👍🇺🇸👍 Merry Christmas.

[@gizmofish57]

When it dawned on me what you were doing I was shocked , then impressed at your audacity! That level of confidence is hard earned.Loved it! good info

[@daboss117fly]

I learn so much from you, Steve on engine builds. You guys are legend's! I m glad Cleet has shown us you, Steve and Cameron. All three of you guys are amazing craftsman!

[@johnnienitro6812]

OMG!

[@Stevesbe]

2:23 Thats exactly how i feel doing remodeling work . fixing someones hacks for next to nothing because you have a consciece and cant leave it like that

[@bigschwiggy]

The burden of real good at doin stuff is the fact that you have to be real good at fixin stuff that isn't your's. I'm a wood worker and carpentry restoration worker. I do it every single day. I concur with your assessments on the pay. 🤣

[@sanddan525]

Some of the best music on KZbin, for sure the best on any car related channel.

[@Hotbeefsamich]

Custom music by Pete... non AI

[@sanddan525]

@ He even plays multiple instruments. Amazing

[@RobertFothergill-u1z]

Well said, there's a difference between a good valve job on a john deere tractor 🚜 where you have 20,000 hours and want it to seal and a performance built application

[@CGT80]

I had a guy who did nascar head and intake porting do the parts for my daily driver engine. Actually, he suggested moving to a 406sbc instead of the 383 for my 79 pickup which I towed with and used for work. Well, he ground the runners so thin that he had to epoxy them. After an engine rebuild, it was using oil. That is when the engine shop really found how thin the walls were. The guy knew it was just a street truck and the goal was to make it reliable and to get as much torque as possible. It has all the good parts, roller vavetrain, blueprinted forged crank for quality control, etc. He forgot the difference between a race engine that gets torn down all the time and needs to win vs. a truck engine that needed to go 100k+ miles without being torn down. He was also quite up there in age so maybe that had something to do with not staying on track with what was necessary for the job.

[@cblack1863]

I've a similar procedure, and I used a sharpy to color in material close to the seat to clearly see realtime where I was grinding.

[@TimothyAmiot-zr8ec]

Thank you for your honesty sir!!! And sharing your knowledge with us

[@Nine_Finger_Wrenching]

OMG! What you said at 2:20 REALLY hits home. 😆 My whole life I never charged enough because of this kinda stuff. That's the "real good at stuff do" part I guess.

[@jacquescrusan9500]

I'm the same way with exhaust systems. I've taken years to look up and learn as much as humanly possible on heat transfer, fluid flow and fluid dynamic characteristics, sound/pressure wave dynamics, and metallurgy and material science. I've gone through technical papers, including official U.S. Navy Technical manuals. If it's something that I'm capable of learning and doing with my own two hands with the tools at my disposal, I want to learn and then do as much as humanly possible. I'm not an engine builder, and I'm not going to pretend that I am. I am at best a knowledgeable engine assembler with understanding of working theories trying to piece the whole puzzle together. I'm also obsessive about taking what the factory gave me and removing every last piece of compromise that accounting departments forced upon the engineers. Which isn't cheap, but has a way of paying for itself in the long run.

[@MrJermbob]

Man i would be way too scared to work that close to a fresh valve job with carbide. You the man.

[@wsm19]

I learned how to do head work from an old timer who used to hand grind each cylinder on top fuel motors when I was working at Sonny’s racing engines. Definitely an art and fine hand tuning to doing valve jobs.

[@garryclark1893]

Thanks for the education and doing the right thing for the customer that is my motto in my industry.

[@9wire]

Great vid!👍🏻👍🏻 Merry Christmas Pete!

[@CarRacerGVR4]

Grabbing a spare set of valves that you can place in the chamber while you repair the step cut can be helpful to protect the seats from the burr. It can be an additional expense but if it saves the valve job, it can be worth it.

[@ddrplayer633]

what a great day! get off work early to a brand new real good at doing stuff video! Merry Christmas to you and your family!

[@Corey-xd4kx]

for Xmas you should compose a time-lapse tune for cleeter

[@zippy39008]

Pete "The Massuse" Harrell shows how to make the flows!

[@ShadowOppsRC]

Lots of shady mechanics and builders out there just in it to make a buck. Need more guys like Pete doing it!

[@brynedolor8015]

I agree 💯 %. I rather pay extra to pay a builder that knows what he’s doing like Pete

[@Bacongrease00]

I’m not even sure some of them are nefarious just think they know what they are doing when they don’t.

[@jackmagnium6115]

on top of that trying to get it done by a legit professional is ALOT more expensive than it looks. especially if said person is doing a junkyard speed hot rod build

[@RS_Garage_US]

@2:35 Yes, that's the way it seems to be!

[@Pablo668]

I was a tradesman in the metal trades. I've done all sorts of things with different griders. There is no way I'd try and do the grinding job you just did on that head. Heck, I am ok at fixing/working on engines, but I still get the professionals to do it where possible.

[@LittleB0723]

always respect the quality of your work! great job!

[@rhunter3406]

another issue can arise is the loss of correct rocker geometry by losing all of that seat thickness. A rocker gets the most amount of valve movement at 90 degrees or perpindicular to the valve stem! you lose valve lift as well

[@matthewdrehobl2835]

Dont know if this helps but when i was learning how to port and polish. I got a set of junk heads. Put garbage valves in it with a lightweight spring. This way i learnes to stay away from the valve seat untill i was more comfortable with the tools

[@matthewgillman5198]

man petes skill on that grinder is top notch. i think hes done that one or twice hahaha

[@Stevesbe]

Those marks from the piston slamming into the chamber is called self clearancing just make sure they dont charge you for it

[@antonmcesaro]

I've seen you all over youtube on other channels before. I just found your channel and I'm glad I did. This is some great work and a good learning experience. You are damn good at doin stuff.

[@split150]

Is that a Foredom grinder setup with foot pedal? That seems to be the top of the food chain for this kind of work.

[@roadrunner4404]

Later when they put lower compression pistons in they can have new seats put in. But that may require the welding it up. Woukd it be cheaper then to buy new heads n start fresh? Love the tech and music too

[@YoJoe-s4b]

The hard part is the consumer not know enough to make sure this doesn’t happen and being about to talk to a shop in a way to figure out if they are getting the shaft or not also not pissing off the shop at the same time.

[@mikebrown4429]

Thank you very much for your honesty

[@bigbean69420]

the introduction is absolutely ridiculous and I love it

[@theunhingedgamer3762]

it's honestly satisfying to watch local shop owners ridicule big name companies for inept work on things used in everyday life such as engines be it drag racing or just a big power daily driver stuff like this should always be followed love the knowledge I gain from watching these videos

[@RustyWells2]

I don't think Mast did that it's their head new but that's it.

[@sirmonkey1985]

the head was fine from mast, for some reason another person/company decided to modify the valves. wouldn't surprise me if they were bending valves if they were slapping the head with the pistons so that was their 30 cent solution instead of buying the correct parts.

[@zacharykelly7434]

He actually spent around a minute explaining that Mast heads usually don't need to be touched

[@izzyryder4969]

I used to install old, thinned down valves in the head when reshaping the chamber near valve seats to protect seats from accidental damage.

[@DustinPool-t2g]

It is easy to cut but hard to build it back up or to deal with the change in geometry. All people need to know is let sleeping dogs lie. That doesn’t mean don’t double check everything but if your into this stuff listen to this man he is as honest as they come.

[@AndyL940]

Thanks Pete 👍

[@robertpierce1981]

It’s good to watch a knowledgeable person who doesn’t talk down or condescend. Merry Xmas sir.

[@danmyers9372]

So at what point would it more prudent to just replace the valve seats and start over? It seems this would put the valve back at the designed seat height, unshroud the valve and correct any geometry issues that occurred when the valve seats got cut down excessively low. That wouldn’t remove static compression though which seemed to be part of the goal with this head.

[@garrettshirar9696]

Maybe I'm stupid idk but this is the first time I've seen anyone do that by hand before lol that blows my mind. You are OBVIOUSLY very VERY good at what you do hahaha

[@jefflee1080]

I never knew you were from NC.I live east of Charlotte near concord. I like how you explain how you do your job.

[@Dean-w5z]

I’m always learning a lot from your videos thank you for sharing your knowledge

[@roncarter5922]

Thanks good insight on avoiding sinkinking the seats into the head a lot of shops don't tell you how much you need to offset with shims and what changes that makes to the remaining valve train.

[@aaronsitz5168]

Happy Holidays please keep up with the content we are watching love from Tn

[@sjorsdewit9394]

I didn’t knew you had a KZbin channel what a nice surprise! Thank you for sharing your knowledge sir🙏

[@1dave301]

I've got the same bench grinder, I bought it new in 1973, still going good.

[@keithgriffith6002]

Merry Christmas Pete. Thank you for sharing your knowledge to us every day people.

[@dpirt101]

I feel your pain brother. I'm in construction and that principle directly applies to it. doing remodeling after the happy home owner that watched HDTV that thinks you can remodel a house in a week and end up hacking everything up

[@stannelson2582]

I’d love hearing the conversation with the owner. Ok Pete go be a good at doing stuff!

[@ricknielson8934]

Unfortunately some people think freshening heads include a valve job and often request that be done. Instead of educating the customer they will proceed just for the money. As you said.

[@e34boat88]

did the same for my pinto head. all valves sunken to hell but now it flows 300bhp with old modded stock valves and 20psi boost

[@dannoyes4493]

Might be a good idea, when taking you heads to a performance shop, is to specify wheither you want good performace or bad performance... As an aside I would like to see some details regarding your Walmart recording studio setup. Well done. Thanks.

[@KTMGREG55]

Merry Christmas Big Power 💪 Pete Harrell 🎁🎄. Let’s do some stuff real good in ‘25 and beyond 🤙

[@MsKatjie]

Merry X'mas, Man. One of your better videos, in my reckoning. No way, regarding the, "race, junk and sunk"; valve job, indeed! Yes, I will never go boasted, so never have anything of the power level yous guys have, but heck this stuff is even more important for the NA person!!! Big time, as far as one reasons. Oh saying that, I have an damaged framed FTR 1200 that could do with an exhaust spinner! Cheers, keep up the surperior work, Boss.

[@ZackeryStang]

I had a set of mast 295's come through the shop a while back the same way... .085 worth of extra spring shims and 2 tuliped valves with the throats at 96.4% .... after welding and new seats customer picked up 3 tenths over previous best

[@kh40yr]

Merry Christmas Pete and Family!. Subscribed to the Channel. Very good info. 2025 should be a very good year for everyone.

[@drcolster]

THOSE PISTONS WERE HITTIN GGGOOOOOOOOOODDDD...!!!

[@mikemaccracken3112]

Merry Christmas Pete and the crew at HED. I have been unburdened by what has burdened me 😂.

[@mattchew7219]

I love learning knew things like this. I can appreciate the urge not to ignore it. I have a couple stock aluminum heads I thought about trying a port job. This makes me want to try it lol

[@jasonteixeira1977]

I have the same foredom rotary tool. Excellent for chamber work

[@1mikewalsh]

From my experience in engine machine shops, Besides paying attention to the work, the parts they use counts. Pro comp. is a deal killer.

[@minecrafthacker9582]

I bet it was Jackstand

[@JBNL1972]

Merry Christma from Oldenzaal, Netherlands Mr Harrell!

[@bassettraceengines]

Preach on brother !!! Tell it all !!!

[@Hotbeefsamich]

There's just sooooo many things that we do for not enough money that are great for our health! Also, I always try to use porting valves if possible!!! Makes life way easier! I love your channel btw and feel all your pain as the owner of an engine shop and am sick of all the crap work out there! By the time we get the job often we are the last to get paid as well!

[@SeanPwnery]

I appreciate the attention to detail... Merry Christmas Pete

[@TheOriginalDaveJ]

Nice bit of HED on Christmas Eve 😉 Merry Christmas to you and the team from Kintore Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@JohnRoberts71]

Merry Christmas and happy new year to you and yours

[@plnthrd]

Question: Wouldn't replacing the seats have accomplished the same thing?

[@Baard2000]

Professional head porter for 25 years...I feel your pain too. You wont get rich by fixing these issues but you cant let it...... It hurts me too seeing abused seats like that ...... I usually contact customer and than proceed . Hand work wont make you rich..... trading boxes with whatever will......

[@79tazman]

Merry Christmas to you Pete hope you have a good one and that Santa brings you everything you wanted.

[@saturnfivehynrgrc581]

Merry Christmas Pete and all the real good @ doin' stuff folks 🎄🎁 Cheers!!! 🥂

[@OGRocker1]

Thanks Pete, Merry Christmas to you and yours 🎅🎁🎄

[@vehdynam]

Thanks for the tech information, always appreciated.

[@meatball6930]

Yeah i know this feeling . I spent 1/2 of my career fixing millions of issues that “licensed “ contractors/builders did and “inspectors” passed. Or licensed contractors never finished. It’s crazy. So yeah i couldn’t charge all these people what i needed to because they were victims and j couldn’t just leave it once i knew. Not a people pleaser but when you know what’s wrong it feels evil to not help someone and id hope someone would pay me back when it happens to me. I fixed a lot more “licensed “ contractors work than unlicensed people. A lot of my guys are trained by me so they do side jobs for ppl and aren’t licensed and do great work and so don’t always think licensed means everything. Being that we fix a lot of things others did my guys learned what not to do so they won’t do them obviously. Licensed can mean licensed to steal. Think about a dealership vs a kid now a man who worked at his dad’s mechanic shop and isn’t licensed-who would you want fixing or building your engine? This applies to everything. The guy who owns the pizza shop doesn’t make the pizza who makes the pizza all day-if you wanted to have a party and someone make some insane pizza up I’d hire the guy making it rather than the owner/licensed. These rednecks who pull you out of the woods or out of a ditch are better than a tow truck driver. I have so many employees who should have their own business but can’t pass the tests and they’re better than 90% of builders or remodelers. I will say it is so hard finding a good engine rebuilder. I’ve never found one out of 25ish that I’ve picked.

[@davidreed6070]

So they cut a flat top cut and leave a lip,so now you have to flatten out the chamber to get rid of the lip. I dont know why.

[@chrishamil254]

I use steel burrs on aluminum all the time, they are nice for super accurate work!

[@BenjySparky]

Pete, you rock! Merry Christmas, Pete, family, and crew! Peace 🎄🎊🍻💨

[@slopoke22]

Im one of those guys that knows the angles that do the most and all that. I like you usually have to make the hard money! Sucks gotta love it. Most people do not do valve jobs correctly, even reputable people.

[@droberts573]

True Artist in many ways. Keep doin good brother.

[@roostingthe6520]

Man you have big balls! I have boxes and boxes of old valves that I modified so I can do blend work without hitting the seat.

[@ericanderson6671]

Wouldn’t putting new seats in solve shrouding and installed spring hight problems?

[@john.daniel14]

X2 upgrade to copper beryllium while at it

[@Hotbeefsamich]

Yes but very pricey

[@Hotbeefsamich]

But to do it right on a set of heads like that where the valve job has already been sunken, and therefore, so has the top angle - after the seats are pulled it needs welded up all around the top of the seats where the top angle is cut. Then THAT WELD has be be reblended.

[@UnityMotorSportsGarage]

Like my Dad always said.. if it's not broke dont fix it! Great Vid