Valve seat?

[triggerbear]

hey all I resently got a set of 516 heads for my 383 I was told they profeshionly ported & milled .040 and have 2.14/1,81 Manley Pro Flo valves .500 lift springs,bronse guides,hardened seats.My question is how can I tell if the seats are hardened or stock? I have not disasembled them for clean up yet. When I do what should I be looking for on the seats?Also can anyone estmate what the compression will be I've got .030 over Speed Pro Power Forged flat tops and .039 head gaskets. Will this be too high to run on 93 octane? Thanks in advance Triggerbear

[jelsr]

On the older heads a hardened insert is the normal method and should be visable just outside the ex valve head. You will need to provide the measurement from the piston crown to the block deck for a CR estimate.

[pishta]

yeah, the hardened seat should be visible as almost a different shade of color. Course if everything is black, thats no help.

[triggerbear]

yeah its all blackened they were'nt cleaned up when i got them. the piston are still in the box so i dont have any way to mike them

[383_Coronet 440]

Originally Posted by triggerbear

yeah its all blackened they were'nt cleaned up when i got them. the piston are still in the box so i dont have any way to mike them

Well then... Give me the compression height of those pistons and I'll give you a compression ratio.

[dwc43]

It wont make any diff if they are hardened or not as long as it has good SS valves in it.

[TK]

most hrdend seats go away after the first valve job, ss valves help? i thought the seat was the problem.

[dwc43]

Originally Posted by dodgetkboy78

most hrdend seats go away after the first valve job, ss valves help? i thought the seat was the problem.

The so called problem is no lead in the fuel. SS vavles are harder and wont trade off any material to the stock or hardened seat. I'm still running stock original cars without hardened seats with no valve problems too.