So local machinist builds some heads and balances a bottom end for me.

I assemble and time the long block.

And one of the heads gives me nothing but trouble.

Had to take it back to him 2x off the block because it was not right.

First time I had to take it back was because the exhaust valve guides had slipped and one had failed completely and was sitting on the face of the valve.

He only replaced the failed one and said the others were good to go when asked if they all needed replaced with oversized guides.

Second time the valve stem height wasnt set right on the intake valves and they were hanging open because the valve job had sunk the seats too much. Not only that, the seats had been sunk so much they required shorter valve stems.

Now Im dealing with the whole thing being trashed from a dropped exhaust valve caused by a slipped valve guide. On one of the 3 guides he passed on replacing.

When I first told him about the engine eating itself, he told me how do I know the guide failed first.

And Im honestly needing some better words than I can muster in my current state on how I know it was his work that turned a year of my life into multiple useless paperweights