I'm in the market to buy some heads for my mostly stock mustang. Does MHS do good work porting heads? Will I get my heads back if I send them there? How long will it take? Will thye degree the cams in the heads without my engine for me?
Looking to buy heads from MHS any advice
- Thread starter oxfordgt
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AZmustang98
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mc0311grunt
Member
Mach1_Marauder
New Member
- Jan 18, 2006
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Sledge hammer in that picture?
Why is the casting flash missing only in this spot?
Why is the casting flash missing only in this spot?
So are you saying they will break my heads? Will I have to pay for that?Sledge hammer \ in that picture?
Why is the casting flash missing only in this spot?
blown65
Founding Member
mc0311grunt
Member
I guess that's cool, ill pay to fix that I understand shipping can sometimes suck. But will all of the valves seal and cam journals be round? I want to make sure I can just bolt them on and go.
blown65
Founding Member
This was his excuse page, maybe this will help your decision.
There are 3 people in life you should never rush:
Your doctor, your dentist, and the person building your performance motor!
Some of the things that have caused delays, if your order is delayed then the reason(s) can be found here:
Nick spent part of the day answering 10-20 phone calls, 56 calls in a single day being the current record.
Nick spent part of the day answering 10-30 emails.
Nick spent part of the day answering 10-30 PMs.
Nick spent most of the day updating 30+ people on order status.
Nick only learned recently how to actually schedule head port jobs realistically since business is about 4 times more than he had planned for, and factoring in 20+ hours a week for answering phone calls, emails, and PM was not part of the original plan.
Nick's shoulder is slowing him down this week.
Nick got a piece of aluminum chip in his eye porting your head and since its not magnetic it takes quite some time to get it out and heal before he can start porting again.
Nick has a family that might need him to step away for a day unexpectedly and your head order was on the bench ready for final assembly (honestly).
Nick has not had a vacation since starting this business, so sometimes a single day off is like a vacation, and sorry but it was your heads that he was working on at the time.
Nick has tried to teach multiple people how to port heads and has now realized he will probably be porting every head from here on out.
Nick had to spend a couple days locating a new supply for brass freeze plugs that do not say "Made in China".
Nick had to wait 1 week for new "Not made in China" brass freeze plugs to arrive.
One of our employees had to take some time off. Since we are a small shop that means some work is not going to get done while they are gone. Sorry that it had to happen at the time your job was scheduled.
We moved to a new location, planned on being down for 2 weeks, and ended up being down for 4 weeks. Coincidentally the months before and during the move we took in more orders than any other month in our history.
Our shop is located in Florida, we have no heater, and its currently 28 degrees. Its very hard to port a cylinder head when your hands are numb from the cold.
Our shop is located in Florida, the temperature inside the shop hit over 105 degrees with 90% humidity for 2 weeks straight so we had to slow down for a while.
Only company we use for bronze guides is 6 weeks behind since they moved locations.
Stage 3 valve springs took 2 months to arrive after placing last order.
Head gaskets took 1 month to arrive after placing last order.
SS valves took 1 month to arrive after placing last order.
We ran out of the heavy duty boxes we ship the heads in and the replacement order is held up in Atlanta because its snowing there.
UPS showed up early and your order was not done being packaged yet.
Your head needed a new seat installed and we would only catch that in one of the final steps. This requires Nick to blend in the new seat after installation, then the head gets pressure tested again, and only then can it go back into the Serdi to complete the valve job.
Your heads need ALL 16 seats replaced since the last shop that installed your guides honed them at an angle and now the perfectly straight new guides I installed don't match the seats.
Your head had the wrong cam caps swapped onto it by mistake during disassembly and we didn't catch it until after final assembly when trying to install the cam. This fully assembled head is still on display in the front room of the shop BTW as we have still never found the other head that the caps were switched with. If its still there when we get our cam bearing tooling its finally going to get fixed with a set of replaceable cam bearings.
We had to spend a few hours figuring out which cam caps went to which heads since the machine shop surfacing the heads was so backed up we got 10 sets back at the same time.
Someone forgot to mark the Windsor cam caps for both the proper direction and journal location, and since half of the Windsor heads are not marked from the factory I spent an hour trying every cap in every different spot and direction before I was sure I got them all back to their original location.
We scratched the deck surface assembling your head and had to send it back out to take another 0.002" off which means I won't see your head for another day or two (or three)
We ran out of used cam gears and had to shut down for a day, make a trip to the junkyard, and take only cam gears and spacers from 25 cars.
I found your aftermarket cams did not have the correct thrust clearance to fit your heads properly and I had to spend some extra time fixing it.
I found your aftermarket cams had a single journal 0.001" larger and we had to polish it down into spec.
I found a crack in your 4V head in one of the spark plug threads only after I spent half a week porting them.
I was short 2 rebuilt lash adjusters for your heads and didn't realize it until I was assembling them.
There was a broken cam cap bolt in your head that I didn't find until final assembly. This required cutting off half the cam cap, welding up a new one, and making new threads for the cam bolt (true story of the very first set of Stage 3 PI heads that left the shop)
Whoever last decked the heads you sent me did them so half ass I will need to remove 0.020" to make them flat again. Since your 4.6 PI motor does not have piston notches, I had to stop work on them to call you and let you know we have to either notch your pistons now or retard your cams an additional 2 degrees. Since you didn't answer your messages for a few hours, I had to start working on something else.
Your PI heads that were ported by another shop are so hogged out they failed the pressure test. Since I already have 20-30 sets of heads to port its gonna take some time to port a replacement set for you.
Your PI heads that were ported by another shop have custom length longer valves so the single valve that needs replacing will cost $45 to be custom made and will take 3 weeks to arrive. Since its slightly too short we would never catch this problem until final assembly.
Your head needs a 0.004" oversized valve guide since the last shop that worked on them buggared up the hole so bad and I only had stock diameter and 0.002" oversized since that was all I ever needed before. I had to order 50 of them to get a single one and its going to take 2-3 weeks before I see them.
We had to wait 1 month for a single set of 7 thread Windsor head cores to be located since that is the hardest core to get these days.
One of the specialty install tools for the Timeserts broke and its 3 days before the replacement arrives since you have to order it direct from the factory.
The valve spring compressor blew a seal and it took 3 days to get this specialty part.
The lathe that cuts the lip off the stock PI valves is down for repair.
The welder is down for repair.
The Jet Wash that washes the heads is down for repair.
The Serdi that does the valve jobs is down for repair.
The Rottler that does the surfacing is down for repair.
The $200+ CBN insert for the Rottler went bad and we are waiting for the replacement since nobody realized the spare was already being used.
The wiring to one of the machines shorted out inside the wall and it took a day to replace since an extension cord would not suffice.
Your heads were not rinsed immediately after the Jet Wash which is done at another shop since it stinks so bad I don't want one of them here. Since this machine uses a water-soap solution at 160+ degrees to wash the heads I cannot get this soap residue off with any chemical I try. So I had to send your heads back to be washed again, and since this solution discolored the fresh deck surface we also had to install the heads in the surfacer again and take another 0.002" off for them to look good.
Your brand new aftermarket head that took 4 weeks to arrive has a casting flaw we found in the intake port and it took 2 more weeks to get its replacement.
Your brand new aftermarket head cracked when I installed a valve guide after I spent 20 hours porting on it, so I ordered another one and its 2 weeks before it arrives. Then I have to somehow figure in time to port it as well since I am already booked solid for the next month.
Since Hans is the only person I trust welding my heads I have to wait on him.
Since Steve is the only person I trust with the Serdi valve machine on my heads I have to wait on him.
Another customer's large check bounced and so I had to spend half a day making sure my checks I already mailed out would not bounce.
I refunded your order when you asked, so when you also request your credit card company to do a chargeback they twice took the same amount out of my account. So my account is now short a bit over $2000 for 3 business days while they reverse the chargeback. Since they will not do this reversal without me faxing over a bunch of paperwork I also lost a half a day taking care of all the mess this created.
The cat jumped on the kitchen counter, knocked over a full box of jelly beans at 2AM, and decided to play soccer with all of them - this cost a night of sleep and I spent that time writing this article since I knew I was going to be a bit slower the next day.
There are 3 people in life you should never rush:
Your doctor, your dentist, and the person building your performance motor!
Some of the things that have caused delays, if your order is delayed then the reason(s) can be found here:
Nick spent part of the day answering 10-20 phone calls, 56 calls in a single day being the current record.
Nick spent part of the day answering 10-30 emails.
Nick spent part of the day answering 10-30 PMs.
Nick spent most of the day updating 30+ people on order status.
Nick only learned recently how to actually schedule head port jobs realistically since business is about 4 times more than he had planned for, and factoring in 20+ hours a week for answering phone calls, emails, and PM was not part of the original plan.
Nick's shoulder is slowing him down this week.
Nick got a piece of aluminum chip in his eye porting your head and since its not magnetic it takes quite some time to get it out and heal before he can start porting again.
Nick has a family that might need him to step away for a day unexpectedly and your head order was on the bench ready for final assembly (honestly).
Nick has not had a vacation since starting this business, so sometimes a single day off is like a vacation, and sorry but it was your heads that he was working on at the time.
Nick has tried to teach multiple people how to port heads and has now realized he will probably be porting every head from here on out.
Nick had to spend a couple days locating a new supply for brass freeze plugs that do not say "Made in China".
Nick had to wait 1 week for new "Not made in China" brass freeze plugs to arrive.
One of our employees had to take some time off. Since we are a small shop that means some work is not going to get done while they are gone. Sorry that it had to happen at the time your job was scheduled.
We moved to a new location, planned on being down for 2 weeks, and ended up being down for 4 weeks. Coincidentally the months before and during the move we took in more orders than any other month in our history.
Our shop is located in Florida, we have no heater, and its currently 28 degrees. Its very hard to port a cylinder head when your hands are numb from the cold.
Our shop is located in Florida, the temperature inside the shop hit over 105 degrees with 90% humidity for 2 weeks straight so we had to slow down for a while.
Only company we use for bronze guides is 6 weeks behind since they moved locations.
Stage 3 valve springs took 2 months to arrive after placing last order.
Head gaskets took 1 month to arrive after placing last order.
SS valves took 1 month to arrive after placing last order.
We ran out of the heavy duty boxes we ship the heads in and the replacement order is held up in Atlanta because its snowing there.
UPS showed up early and your order was not done being packaged yet.
Your head needed a new seat installed and we would only catch that in one of the final steps. This requires Nick to blend in the new seat after installation, then the head gets pressure tested again, and only then can it go back into the Serdi to complete the valve job.
Your heads need ALL 16 seats replaced since the last shop that installed your guides honed them at an angle and now the perfectly straight new guides I installed don't match the seats.
Your head had the wrong cam caps swapped onto it by mistake during disassembly and we didn't catch it until after final assembly when trying to install the cam. This fully assembled head is still on display in the front room of the shop BTW as we have still never found the other head that the caps were switched with. If its still there when we get our cam bearing tooling its finally going to get fixed with a set of replaceable cam bearings.
We had to spend a few hours figuring out which cam caps went to which heads since the machine shop surfacing the heads was so backed up we got 10 sets back at the same time.
Someone forgot to mark the Windsor cam caps for both the proper direction and journal location, and since half of the Windsor heads are not marked from the factory I spent an hour trying every cap in every different spot and direction before I was sure I got them all back to their original location.
We scratched the deck surface assembling your head and had to send it back out to take another 0.002" off which means I won't see your head for another day or two (or three)
We ran out of used cam gears and had to shut down for a day, make a trip to the junkyard, and take only cam gears and spacers from 25 cars.
I found your aftermarket cams did not have the correct thrust clearance to fit your heads properly and I had to spend some extra time fixing it.
I found your aftermarket cams had a single journal 0.001" larger and we had to polish it down into spec.
I found a crack in your 4V head in one of the spark plug threads only after I spent half a week porting them.
I was short 2 rebuilt lash adjusters for your heads and didn't realize it until I was assembling them.
There was a broken cam cap bolt in your head that I didn't find until final assembly. This required cutting off half the cam cap, welding up a new one, and making new threads for the cam bolt (true story of the very first set of Stage 3 PI heads that left the shop)
Whoever last decked the heads you sent me did them so half ass I will need to remove 0.020" to make them flat again. Since your 4.6 PI motor does not have piston notches, I had to stop work on them to call you and let you know we have to either notch your pistons now or retard your cams an additional 2 degrees. Since you didn't answer your messages for a few hours, I had to start working on something else.
Your PI heads that were ported by another shop are so hogged out they failed the pressure test. Since I already have 20-30 sets of heads to port its gonna take some time to port a replacement set for you.
Your PI heads that were ported by another shop have custom length longer valves so the single valve that needs replacing will cost $45 to be custom made and will take 3 weeks to arrive. Since its slightly too short we would never catch this problem until final assembly.
Your head needs a 0.004" oversized valve guide since the last shop that worked on them buggared up the hole so bad and I only had stock diameter and 0.002" oversized since that was all I ever needed before. I had to order 50 of them to get a single one and its going to take 2-3 weeks before I see them.
We had to wait 1 month for a single set of 7 thread Windsor head cores to be located since that is the hardest core to get these days.
One of the specialty install tools for the Timeserts broke and its 3 days before the replacement arrives since you have to order it direct from the factory.
The valve spring compressor blew a seal and it took 3 days to get this specialty part.
The lathe that cuts the lip off the stock PI valves is down for repair.
The welder is down for repair.
The Jet Wash that washes the heads is down for repair.
The Serdi that does the valve jobs is down for repair.
The Rottler that does the surfacing is down for repair.
The $200+ CBN insert for the Rottler went bad and we are waiting for the replacement since nobody realized the spare was already being used.
The wiring to one of the machines shorted out inside the wall and it took a day to replace since an extension cord would not suffice.
Your heads were not rinsed immediately after the Jet Wash which is done at another shop since it stinks so bad I don't want one of them here. Since this machine uses a water-soap solution at 160+ degrees to wash the heads I cannot get this soap residue off with any chemical I try. So I had to send your heads back to be washed again, and since this solution discolored the fresh deck surface we also had to install the heads in the surfacer again and take another 0.002" off for them to look good.
Your brand new aftermarket head that took 4 weeks to arrive has a casting flaw we found in the intake port and it took 2 more weeks to get its replacement.
Your brand new aftermarket head cracked when I installed a valve guide after I spent 20 hours porting on it, so I ordered another one and its 2 weeks before it arrives. Then I have to somehow figure in time to port it as well since I am already booked solid for the next month.
Since Hans is the only person I trust welding my heads I have to wait on him.
Since Steve is the only person I trust with the Serdi valve machine on my heads I have to wait on him.
Another customer's large check bounced and so I had to spend half a day making sure my checks I already mailed out would not bounce.
I refunded your order when you asked, so when you also request your credit card company to do a chargeback they twice took the same amount out of my account. So my account is now short a bit over $2000 for 3 business days while they reverse the chargeback. Since they will not do this reversal without me faxing over a bunch of paperwork I also lost a half a day taking care of all the mess this created.
The cat jumped on the kitchen counter, knocked over a full box of jelly beans at 2AM, and decided to play soccer with all of them - this cost a night of sleep and I spent that time writing this article since I knew I was going to be a bit slower the next day.
Why is there an excuse page? Is there that many mess ups that requires and entire page on their website?
You are, by far, one of the biggest tools to disgrace SN. Not only do you sound like an angry child who wants his mommy's nipple, you're just plain annoying. Get lost, clown.
Stumbaugh
Member
I'm not going to defend Nick by any means, because I think he was wrong in the whole situation that happened with Jake, but you have no dog in this fight. Quit posting up new threads about this. Everyone gets the point.
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