I'm rebuilding my engine, and kinda kickin it up a notch. Has anybody replaced the valve guides?

If so, how difficult is that, and can an average wrench do it?

 

sorry sportypig cant help on that one.
how many miles does that old girl got on her now 78,000?
she been a good bike man.
you Ride Safe

 

are they steel or brass?if you don't see any gouging i'd leave 'em unless they're brass...aren't they press in style?may have to take the heads to a shop to get that done

 

If there's nothing definately wrong with them, leave em alone. Otherwise they are pressfit in, and times i've worked on them we torch the head and pull them out. When the new guides are pressed in, you're going to need to recut the valve seats.....and possibly replace the seats if needed. The factory service manual covers the procedure. I'd recommend just taking the heads into a shop for the work. While the procedure isn't all that difficult.......valve cutting tools are expensive.

 

if you have to go thru all that why not just rebuild heads .your going to have them off any way.

 

Thanks for the input, the engine looked CHERRY once it was taken apart. Did a little cleaning up on the heads, but the valve guide will stay.

I've got to give a shout out for Mobil-1 oil. That engine still has the cross marks in the jugs for the break in period. It looks practically new, after 65,000 miles. I did a check and the ACTUAL miles are 64,883. I thought that was interesting with the 883 being the last on the odometer.

Tomorrow, she will be a 1250

 

Not done any harley guides but I have don plenty of old brits and it is very easy,you will need a drift slightly smaller than the OD of the guide ans machined to slip in to the guide, pop the head in to the oven for a couple of hours and gently drift them out, and drift the new ones in, try grinding past to re cut the seats but you might have to use a cutter.

 

+1 on the Mobil 1 Synthetic oil. Back in 1976 I helped pull the heads off of my uncle’s Corvette that had well over 100,000 hard, hard miles on her and we were both blown away by how there was almost no measurable wear on the parts. After that experience I started putting Mobil 1 in everything that I own right after the initial break in period and I am very happy with the results over the last 30 some years. Hey SportyPig, after the 883 to 1250 conversion, don’t forget to HOLD ON HARDER!!!! Have fun with the new horsepower! Good luck and ride safe out there!