Before I put my head together, it dawned upon me that I still didn’t lap my valves. I did have my valves cut on a Serdi by Gabe’s cousin, Noe. Serdi claims that lapping valves destroys the face of the valve where it contacts the valve seat. But I figured, if I gave it a once over on the fine compound, it wouldn’t take all that much material away and I would have the comfort on knowing that the valve is matched to the seat. I mean as long as you don’t go to town for hours, it should only take off a couple thousandths of a millimeter.

The technique that I used was to rotate and tap the valve against the seat. The traditional method is to spin the valve back and forth. But Boss’ theory is that the valve doesn’t rotate against the seat, it taps its as it moves in and out. Like I mentioned, I only used the fine grit compound as each valve was numbered and turned on the Serdi. I gave each valve about three rotations, using the labeling on the suction cup as a guide. Each valve is cleaned off and reinstalled. Hey, maybe Serdi is right, but I can sleep knowing the gray ring is there.

Here you can see the valve as it came from the machine shop.

Here is the valve after it has been lapped. You can see the gray ring where the valve contacts the seat.