I am about to make a complete swap of my cyliner head. I purchased a complete head off of a guy that was upgrading his civic, my question is do I need to take it to a machine shop. I asked him and he said it is not 100% necessary, the main reason it is necessary is if something happens down the road the mechanics butt is covered. I would like to know if the cylinder coves off of another running civic that is in good condition should I take it to the machine shop. Or can i just do a car to car swap change all the gaskets and everything will be fine.

 

I'm not quite sure what your asking?

Your wondering if it's fine to swap the head you bought, with the other one on your car yourself? Is the head from the same model?

I would clean it up first especially if it's been sitting awhile, then lube it up with oil, make sure the valves are all ligned up once in. I've never done it befor but should be pretty straight forward.

 

send it to a machine shop only if you think it may be warped. If its a good head b4 it came off the other car then you should be ok. BUT should is no 100% machine shop is

 

if his motor has ran hot in the past, then the head could have either been cracked in one the the valve seatsor warped completely. to make sure you have no future problems, i would check for any warpage and ask a machinist to check it for you. and check all the valves for a flush fitment as well as alignment. check the retainers, springsand pins as well for no floaters. and make sure you have all of the necessary parts and idea of what to do if you're converting a non-vtec head to a vtec head.