Recently I posted a question about intake valve stems longer thqan the exhaust. I just discovered that the intakes had been ground deep into the intake bowl. A local machine shop told me that this was done to get around a circle track local rule.  What can be done to repair these heads or shall I just start over and look for another set of heads, and does anyone know why this would be done.  Thanks  

A circle track rule requires the valves to be sunk a ton? I smell a rat...

Your machine shop I'm sure is lying because they probably installed some cheap guides at a poorly-drilled angle that made the previous valve job completely worthless, I see this all the time. To fix the valve job the valve must be sunk way down so a seat can be made that will actually seal the valve. Putting in new seats may bring the valve back up some but this is risky and expensive business and I probably wouldn't trust your current machine shop to do it. Besides, you install an incredibly hard seat that needs to be re-cut and it will most likely just end up being a lot of money for not a lot of gain (the seats will just need to be cut down to compensate for the poor guide angle).

I say look for another set if you're really concerned about the performance of this ride. Sunken valves create horrible valve throat sizes and shapes and drastically reduce the efficiency of the port at low-lifts, thus hurting your top end significantly. It takes much longer for the valve to get out of the flowpath as well, and increases combustion chamber volume reducing static compression, so all in all it's a bad move for a high performance ride.  

i also smell rats...  maybe the previous valves were oversized..  or 2.02 valves.. and the machine shop put in 1.94s    

there are so many ways that this could happen...  

putting in hard seats is an option in some heads ... if the new valve seat does not leave a gap where the seat was tapered down...

sometimes new heads are cheeper than repairing  the current ones...   it all depends on what you have...

for some good articles  written on valves, guides and seats...  go to engine-builder.com... there is a link at the bottom center of the page to the article archive... start with V....


on the side...
decades ago i took a pair of heads off an engine for a valve job...  it ran... but it needed a freshening up...   when they called... they said it had 15 bent valves...  it took me years and years to figure out what caused 15 valves to bend.. and they were really bent... i got them back...    about 15 years ago i went to work for an engine rebuilder...  i was out in back walking past the head tear down station..  
there was the tear down tech with a hammer and deep socket taking the keepers and springs off...    this was on a flat piece of wood.. to break them loose the valves were hit hard enough to drive the head into the board at an angle...   i got that changed at that shop...

at another major parts store that had a machine shop.. i took a pair of 520 casting 283 heads in...   the machinest told me that they would have to weld the deck as it would have too much compression and would detonate...  he told me they did that all day long...  i ask for the heads back and left.. and never went back for machine work... till years later ... to get a flywheel turned...   they turned a stepped toyota flywheel flat..  no step...  i was fit to be tied...  i know the owner and he does not believe that could have happend at his store... ...  just though i would share  my experiances... to help others...