When reconditioning old heads, you are putting on heads that have already seen 100,000 miles or more in most cases. New heads can be bought for 1 or 2 hundred more. I just did an old set of X58 chevy small block heads. You replace guides, valves, clean and mag, mill and assemble and you spend $400 to $500. You can spend more by replacing old springs. For $600 to $700 you can get a set of vortec heads with all the parts and they are new. You get good results with them too. If I didn't have a specific need (restoration) for the heads, I would think hard before rebuilding them at the prices and performance of new heads.
