Technical SBC heads, is this damage fatal?

I’m putting together a 283 for my ‘35 3 window. ‘59 block, Offy 4 deuce with Holley 94s, rams horns, etc. T10 and a 9”. I’ve got a sweet pair of staggered bolt Vette valve covers but only 2 barrel lower compression heads.

Today I found a pair of ‘57 4 barrel/FI heads and scooped them up. 3731539 date coded within days of each other. There’s a chip on top of one of the valve guides. Is this damage fatal or will this area be repaired/replaced when the head are rebuilt?

I’m planning to have them rebuilt with 1.84 valves out of 305 heads as I’ve read that 1.94s and 2.02s have shrouding trouble in 283s. It’s taken a while to find these heads since I need 57-early 59 for these valve covers so I hope they are reparable....



The chip:





Intake on the mock up motor:



59 motor:




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Guides are stuffed anyway , will need inserting of some kind. I’d ask your local machinist what he can do.

 

New guides will fix that...

 

Thanks for your fast response. I was assuming they were. I just don’t know how much of the guide is drilled out on these heads and the trusted/recommended machinist is 2 hours away. I want to make sure I’m not chasing a lost cause before I start driving. I haven’t had Chevy heads rebuilt since I was a kid in the 90’s and don’t have an eye for this...




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Perfect!


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The guy on the end of the machine is the one to ask, if he’s any good should be easy enough.

 

Some shops are funny about stuff. Call the shop and talk to someone, send them the pic, see if they can replace the guide, I mean they should be able too, but there's a lot of tranny shops that don't work on TH350 and TH400's either anymore.

 

Easily repaired! Too bad you are not in Southwestern Illinois, I have the greatest machine shop ever, real deal shop. His shop wall is covered with pictures of all of the race engines he has built. Boeser Machine in Aviation Illinois.


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I'm not the machine shop, but we've had heads like that repaired, and there's been no concern.

 

Thanks for all the input guys!


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Given how neglected those heads look, you probably should ask about the valve seats while you're at it. Hardened seats on at least the exhaust valves wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

There are two common valve guide repairs. One is a thin bronze insert that is inserted into the original guide after reaming. The second mills out the original guide and a replacement guide is pressed into the head. The second option will certainly fix your issue. I would recommend you also install hardened exhaust seats due to unleaded fuel. You are in the typical quandary - spend a bunch to have the vintage look and date code, or spent less on a newer set of heads.

 

I was planning on hard seats and larger (1.84) intake valves and a little runner cleanup. I’ve just been hoping that I have usable castings as a starting point. Using this old stuff costs more and leaves so much HP on the table but this project is about 1960 fast. If I just wanted fast, I’d be swapping an LS motor with forced induction into something light from the 90’s....

Thanks again for all the input.


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I think only the 2.02 valves get shrouded in a 283.

 

First and foremost have them magnafluxed before spending any money on them.

 

remove the rocker arms and look for cracks around the studs I have 3 461 heads that are no good because .

 

It's going to take a LOT to get those heads in usable shape; you could find a better set of heads, and cheaper to redo.
I am Butch/56sedandelivery.