I'd like some input on what I am looking at with the head gasket and valves shown in the photos below. So far only have one head off, should get the other removed soon. I'm pretty good at throwing the parts cannon at problems, but not so good with diagnosing.
The car is a 1996 Chevrolet Camaro 3.8 v6. We purchased it used recently. The previous owner had put some sort of coolant stop-leak in the radiator. When I removed the intake the lower intake manifold was failed in several spots (very common issue on these motors). The car ran fine, it was just losing coolant and would then overheat. Oil always (and still does) look good (no milkshake). I found several people that recommended doing the head gaskets at the same time as the lower intake manifold gasket, just in case.
To get the heads checked and surfaced will run me $280 at a local machine shop. It looks like I can get a remanufactured cylinder head (complete including valves) for $340 on ebay from a rebuilder in Georgia. Obviously a 25 year old Camaro with a v6 isn't worth a lot, so I'm leaning towards just putting the new head gaskets without doing any work on the heads. It looks like the head gasket might have had a small leak, but I don't see it being blown out anywhere so I'm inclined to think the head and block are probably ok (both are cast iron). Thoughts?
The car is a 1996 Chevrolet Camaro 3.8 v6. We purchased it used recently. The previous owner had put some sort of coolant stop-leak in the radiator. When I removed the intake the lower intake manifold was failed in several spots (very common issue on these motors). The car ran fine, it was just losing coolant and would then overheat. Oil always (and still does) look good (no milkshake). I found several people that recommended doing the head gaskets at the same time as the lower intake manifold gasket, just in case.
To get the heads checked and surfaced will run me $280 at a local machine shop. It looks like I can get a remanufactured cylinder head (complete including valves) for $340 on ebay from a rebuilder in Georgia. Obviously a 25 year old Camaro with a v6 isn't worth a lot, so I'm leaning towards just putting the new head gaskets without doing any work on the heads. It looks like the head gasket might have had a small leak, but I don't see it being blown out anywhere so I'm inclined to think the head and block are probably ok (both are cast iron). Thoughts?