Hardened valve seats - do they really matter?

[71GSSDemon]

I asked the local small time machine shop about milling me some slant heads .1 He quickly said NO WAY!!!! Guess he did not want to wear out his machine!!

A local shop was going to cut 0.100 off my big block heads, then in turn, have to also cut the intake manifold side. Was ~$300

 

[Princess Valiant]

A local shop was going to cut 0.100 off my big block heads, then in turn, have to also cut the intake manifold side. Was ~$300

The good thing is once it's done, it's done

 

[Princess Valiant]

With the cost of a motor rebuild nowdays I would think hardened seats is cheep insurance.

Yea, as I read through the comments more, I think I'm just going to use the head as is and later when I find a 73 and up head with the factory hardened valve seats, I'll mill that one and swap them out.

I plan to daily drive the car as I have daily driven several old mopars already and I like to tow my little mower trailer around and let the car be a car and do car stuff.