What do used but healthy valves look like?

[motomattx]

As a dealer mechanic at many shops and a person who actually did cylinder boring and valve seat and face cutting I will stick to my original statement about getting a machine shop opinion on the valve faces and the reason for that is that the shop can not really tell you if they can be reused without first cutting the faces enough to clean them completely up and then see how much margin is left, and at the same time it will show if they are bent or not, as i said they generally wont charge you for ones that are not able to be put back in service, they will hand them to you and tell you "these ones are junk". The valves themselves are not that much to have checked out or serviced by a shop, the seats on the other hand can be because of the setup time involved in machining them, what you have in your pictures is typical wear for these valves, most of them could be cut and put back into service, a few probably need pitched and I would let a shop try to machine them and determine which ones to re-use and which needs replaced.

 

[sacrileger]

As a dealer mechanic at many shops and a person who actually did cylinder boring and valve seat and face cutting I will stick to my original statement about getting a machine shop opinion on the valve faces and the reason for that is that the shop can not really tell you if they can be reused without first cutting the faces enough to clean them completely up and then see how much margin is left, and at the same time it will show if they are bent or not, as i said they generally wont charge you for ones that are not able to be put back in service, they will hand them to you and tell you "these ones are junk". The valves themselves are not that much to have checked out or serviced by a shop, the seats on the other hand can be because of the setup time involved in machining them, what you have in your pictures is typical wear for these valves, most of them could be cut and put back into service, a few probably need pitched and I would let a shop try to machine them and determine which ones to re-use and which needs replaced.

Thank you, from all the feedback here, that is exactly what I thought could be the best way to go about it so I have already set up an appointment 3 days ago to take the head to a machine shop next week for a free estimate and quote. No sense me guessing which valve or seat is fine and then deal with consequences. In addition to the valves having visible wear on them, the valve seats are pitted as well....so I am sh** out of luck with DIY project here. Sad.

 

[motomattx]

It doesnt have to be sad, try giving the machine shop a dollar amount that you have to spend and ask if they can work around that amount or not, and if not there are other shops around, that being said I wouldnt shop for a machine shop based on price but a valve job is not major work for any basic machine shop with the proper tools, if you get one that has a guy that likes doing head work they may work out something for you, I actually own the machine to do my own seats and have the valve faces done at the shop, but thats because I was doing alot of heads at one time and it made sense to own the equipment.

 

[curt-s]

Engnbldr on ebay might still sell valves.. good quality, good price. Very popular.