This is all great information, and I will definitely take it all into consideration. I'm honestly leaning towards letting it be for now, but if I do, I'll keep an eye on oil consumption to determine weather or not it's time, and move ahead on my engine build.

Sent from my N9130 using Tapatalk

Good decision!

Those valve keepers are a pain with the head on a bench.

4 hours ago, rossiz said:

it's actually a pretty straightforward job, costs less than dinner at a nice restaurant, no huge skills needed and rather satisfying when done. the bonus is it forces you to adjust your valves - always a good thing to do on an older motor...

i think it's around an hour or so to do the whole thing and the valve guide seals are cheap. the only things that could cause you drama are:

• dropping something into the hole of doom (cam chain area) so be sure to stuff it w/rags as soon as you take off the valve cover and you'll be fine.
• loosing a valve keeper - they can fly when they break loose, so do it in your shop vs. out in the gravel driveway (don't ask me how i know this) also see bullet #1 for flying valve keepers
• damaging the valve cover gasket - should be able to re-use, but if the cover's not been pulled in a long time they can stick and tear, but they're pretty cheap anyway.

that's really all there is to it for "danger/warnings" otherwise i wouldn't shy away from it at all if you want a fun little saturday afternoon project.

An hour or sooooooooooooooooooooooo