Head shaving safe?

[sketchman]

My '89 L is having problems lately. It misses terribly. So, I'm in the process of a valve job. The car has 131000 miles and I'm wondering, can I get the head shaved to improve comp without popping the rings? As far as I know, they are the originals. The guy who had if before me abused it pretty bad. Never changed the oil, or filters, or even the clutch when it started slipping.

So, is it worth the extra $$ to shave the head or should I leave bad enough alone?

[ejp2fast]

Check out this thread:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12402

safe? yeah, just don't go overboard though.. i'd say also that instead you should consider minor porting, just making the exhaust port super smooth and getting the ridges out of both ports.
check out this thread for porting:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12804

[Kraig]

I don't need to shave my head...........mother nature is taking care of that for me!

[sketchman]

I don't need to shave my head...........mother nature is taking care of that for me!

Ahh, but, alas, Festiva heads seem to have been forgotten by mother nature.

[FB71]

I don't need to shave my head...........mother nature is taking care of that for me!

that hair must have fallen off your head and onto my back...

[b6t_festiva]

so what is the limit you can take off? it was never really clairified?? (spelling) i saw .040 and .067?

[mechanicaldj]

that hair must have fallen off your head and onto my back...

and a collective eewwwwwwwwwww

then a subtle groan is heard in the background

[FestYboy]

so what is the limit you can take off? it was never really clairified?? (spelling) i saw .040 and .067?

really the limit is determined by the coolent passages in the head, BUT after about .030", start looking into purchacing an adjustable cam gear to compensate for the new crank to cam distance and keep the cam timing correct.