I've had our 292 with -113 heads rebuilt by a local, reputable shop (Blaine's Motor). Well, they are human, and the person who cleaned up the valves missed dressing a couple of valve stem tips. They still show some wear from their former life. I have some good jewelers files and I'm pretty capable of dressing a good flat surface, so, I went to touch them up. I noticed that they seemed to cut fairly easily. Admittedly, my files are designed to cut hard metals such as platinum, but, I would have expected that they were fairly well work-hardened and should put up some noticeable resistance to being cut. What do you guys think, is it time to re-rebuild my heads or is this normal for Y-block stock valves?

About me:
I'm Jeremy and My son Dylan and I are working on Albatross, our '55 F500. Don't see too many of them on cruise night, do ya? Thanks to those of you who make this forum available. I've read most of the technical forum up to page 34 and I'm learning a lot. Your time and efforts are appreciated.




BTW: I can't seem to post via my stoopid iPhone, but, that is no significant surprise. Pressing the "POST" button gets no result.

No answer from the pros yet. I wonder if maybe somebody would run out to their junque pile and touch a stock ~'59 era valve stem with a file and see if it cuts. Try it on a burned one maybe? That way, there's no damaging a good stock valve should it be reuseable.

Crickets..
Que the cricket chorus!

An update: all exhaust tips display a greater hardness than the intakes.
I'm wanting to get this running but I don't wish to muck up the Mummert 1.54/1 ratio rockers. Hearing nothing from the technical forum, I've dressed them carefully and taken them to a mirror sheen. I used masking tape, sticky side out, to catch the tiny filings. I guess that I'll run it and hope for the best.
Thanks for reading.

Filing the tips on the heads is risky because the filings may have escaped your sticky tape.. Might want to run a magnet over the areas. Then run the engine briefly & change the oil & filter..

Paul

Magnet in a "Baggie" (easier to clean magnet) and compressed air already used. Thank you for the input. I was more concerned about keeping the correct plane. I didn't want to introduce a slope to the valve tip.

BTW: I figured out the secret to posting from a phone.