Hey everyone. I bought a mini with a burnt valve and am in the process of R&Ring it.

My dad was helping me take the head out of the car, I left for a bit and came back to him cleaning off the old gasket material with an xacto knife. (Grr) There are several small scratches like the ones pictures. Are these ones I should be concerned with? You can feel them when you drag your fingernail over them but not where they catch and they aren’t sharp.

 

Not an expert, but what I would have done is used a fine file to make sure there were no ridges, use copper gasket spray when putting the head on.

 

Talking to a co-worker who does a ton of car work (and used to have a speed shop) his opinion was that if a fingernail doesn't catch any of the scratches it should be fine to use as is.

 

I'd be MUCH more concerned about the odd looking valve seat adjacent to your scratches !

Just spend the money for a good two or three angle seat grind, with a surfacing of the deck / gasket surface.
This way you...KNOW...that everything is in good shape. Or...that's what I'd do.

Mike

 

Hmm, could be an optical illusion from the angle of the pic, but the contact patch is a lot wider than on the good one here’s some better pics

 

Maybe one of the previous owners was in here before...

 

+1000 on the suggestion to take the head to a machine shop for a proper rebuild.
Lots of effort to R&R a head, for a few hundred dollars more you get some assurance it wont need to come off again. I too burned a valve and ended up at a machine shop. Cleaning, Inspection, Decking, Rebuild with new valve seals, and 3 angle cut cost me $300. Just for fun I went with +1mm on exhaust valves 380cc injectors TPR401 cam, that cost a bit more.... Good Luck!

 

Car's back together and running like a top. I haven't done a compression check yet after the repair, but it runs out smartly. All my pending and stored DTCs are gone now. Yay!