87/valve seals
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 2,753
Likes: 15
From: backwoods upstate ny
kinda like asking what lunch will cost, depends on what you eat...and where...and who with...and who is cooking.
sounds like you don't like the kitchen (you said ''pay'')...that means hiring somebody and the aces get bigger bucks for better (hopefully) chow...an amatuer may be cheaper, if you don't need medical attention.
if all you need is the little 0-rings on top of the valves (heat and age kill em, many times new 0-rings alone will reduce smoke to acceptable levels), an honest shop can do it for under $200...if you want new ''umbrella'' seals inside the springs, add $150.
while the valve upper end is exposed, however, the clearance between the valve stem and the guide should be checked on at least two cylinders (checking all would taste better, cost more), and if it is excessive (opinions here, i say .003'' is scary), stop the waitress...no seal can control if the valve/guide is worn loose, and you'll give up good starting and lots of power if the valves don't seal cause they land off-center on their conical seats...gonna need to pull the heads off to put new guides in (forget knurling, doesn't last) and will need to recut the valve seats to the new guide locations, reface the valves or (better) replace em., resurface the head to minimise distortion...head work alone will cost $5oo-$8oo (might do better to get a brand new set and sell your old ones), plus the labor and you're up to $1200-$1600.....should run better than new, up to you to decide if you're hungry.
of course, if you don't mind peeling your own potatoes, you can eat well for fractions of restauant prices, and don't need to worry what is in the food .
sounds like you don't like the kitchen (you said ''pay'')...that means hiring somebody and the aces get bigger bucks for better (hopefully) chow...an amatuer may be cheaper, if you don't need medical attention.
if all you need is the little 0-rings on top of the valves (heat and age kill em, many times new 0-rings alone will reduce smoke to acceptable levels), an honest shop can do it for under $200...if you want new ''umbrella'' seals inside the springs, add $150.
while the valve upper end is exposed, however, the clearance between the valve stem and the guide should be checked on at least two cylinders (checking all would taste better, cost more), and if it is excessive (opinions here, i say .003'' is scary), stop the waitress...no seal can control if the valve/guide is worn loose, and you'll give up good starting and lots of power if the valves don't seal cause they land off-center on their conical seats...gonna need to pull the heads off to put new guides in (forget knurling, doesn't last) and will need to recut the valve seats to the new guide locations, reface the valves or (better) replace em., resurface the head to minimise distortion...head work alone will cost $5oo-$8oo (might do better to get a brand new set and sell your old ones), plus the labor and you're up to $1200-$1600.....should run better than new, up to you to decide if you're hungry.
of course, if you don't mind peeling your own potatoes, you can eat well for fractions of restauant prices, and don't need to worry what is in the food .
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 14,130
Likes: 7
Cruise-In II Veteran
RedRose has great advice..and from experience,the 86-87 aluminum heads are notorious for valve guide wear...if you have more than 70K miles,I bet alot of them are worn out,especially the exhaust side.
I went through rebuilding these heads(twice) before through a machine shop and they told me the exhaust side is usually the problem more so,and the guides just dont last that long on these particular heads.
That being said,if the valve seals are bad and its just a little smoke on start up,you should be OK to replace them.If you have some oil control problems and excess smoking,putting valve seals on wont stop the worn out guides from keeping the oil out of there.But do have the guides check for excess wear and etc.
That will let you determine if youre wasting money on a valve seal job and new gaskets that will have to be done a 2nd time if the guides are worn and the heads have to be repaired.
I went through rebuilding these heads(twice) before through a machine shop and they told me the exhaust side is usually the problem more so,and the guides just dont last that long on these particular heads.
That being said,if the valve seals are bad and its just a little smoke on start up,you should be OK to replace them.If you have some oil control problems and excess smoking,putting valve seals on wont stop the worn out guides from keeping the oil out of there.But do have the guides check for excess wear and etc.
That will let you determine if youre wasting money on a valve seal job and new gaskets that will have to be done a 2nd time if the guides are worn and the heads have to be repaired.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,110
Likes: 6
From: Red Sox Nation! RI
Umbrella valve seals should cost you all of about $5, putting them on is a different story. Look around for a good machine shop in your area and they can give you a quote. We used to have a machine shop in a parts store I worked at, and half the work they did was heads. A standard SBC valve job was relatively inexpensive as I recall.
