poor man's valve job? need suggestions.

[mauijim]

ok, this is a 92 cutlass with a 3.1--just the basic plain jane grocery car. around 150,000 miles on her.

so, i'm doing my head gaskets, and i see that my valves look pretty grungy.
the head's are good and straight, less than .003in run-out, but the stems have alot of (looks like) carbon on em, and the ends of the valves look, uh, weathered? rusty, scorched, just kinda rough looking. cant tell much about the seats. i dont belive they're so far gone they need replacing though. they look sound, just kinda corroded.
the car was running like a champ, very very light, intermittant rattle (obviously these valves causing this), but would crank up and run smooth and strong.
it's all i can do to pay for the actual gasket kit because times are hard around here. is there a way around tearing down the heads and doing a 'valve job' that would be almost as good? i've thought about carb cleaner and some brushes, maybe even a dremel tool with a brush. i have a friend that has a shop with a parts washer.
any suggestions? by the way, what does a valve job usually run anyway(ballpark), if i take the heads to a shop? seems awful labor intensive!
thanks,
eric

[hondaetr]

About $150-175. This should include a basic valve job that would resurface the seats and valves. look for a 3 angle valve job. Even Orielly's will do machine work at some locations.. old Gateway autoparts centers. A valve job should also get the valve spring installed hieght and pressures back to stock. There is more to a valve job than just cleaning. At 2400 rpm ave. / 60 sec.= 40 valve events per SECOND for 150,000 miles!! Those seats need resurfacing. Bronze valve guides are a good investment if you plan on keeping the car.

[mauijim]

alternatives i thought about

couple of other things i thought of:
i could go to autozone and borrow the valve spring compressor tool and take em apart myself. they might even have some kind of kit with seals and pushrod guides in it.
another thought was seeing if i can get the tech school part of my daughter's high school to do em.
at any rate, a mechanic friend of mine told me if you go through the trouble of replacing the head gaskets on these cars, getting the valves reworked is a no-brainer.
he said the shop he takes his heads to charges around $150 per head for one of these motors.

[tractorman]

I'd pay for a professional valve job if I meant to keep the car... but if you're completely broke, there IS an alternative. I've done this a couple times with good results:

First, turn the head on its side, and fill each port with diesel fuel. Fill it carefully so you don't spill any around on the head. Let it sit a couple hours and see if it leaks around the valve. If there's no leakage, then there's no real reason why you NEED to remove that valve (unless you just want to clean it). Check both intake and exhaust valves this way, mark the ones that leak. Remove the leaky valve, check to make sure the guide isn't outrageously loose (you'll KNOW if it's bad enough to cause a problem). Get some lapping compound- most auto parts store sell it for less than $10. As long as the valve and seat are in reasonable good condition, you can PROBABLY make them seal just by lapping the sealing surfaces. Make sure you clean off ALL of the lapping compound when you're done- the stuff is highly abrasive. Put it back together, recheck with diesel fuel (works better than gas 'cause gas evaporates).

This isn't the RIGHT way by any means, but I've got by with it a couple times.

[tractorman]

If you're TRUELY broke... I've seen kits in the old J.C.Witney catalog that sold kits to use adhesive-backed sandpaper to do your own valve job. You can buy adhesive sandpaper anywhere though... if you just had one or two leaky valves, you could get creative with a drill and make it work. I've done stranger things over the years.

[RednBlack]

Lap them yourself. Just takes a little compound, (Clover is best), and a way to spin the valve into the seat. Cordless drill is nice.

Poor mans valve job. It works.

[mauijim]

you guys are awesome. thanks.