2.3L ('83-'97) First time engine advice

[LG1132]

Hey everyone

First time actually inspecting a cylinder head since I already have my entire truck disassembled and have been going through, cleaning and reinstalling everything. 1994 Ford Ranger with the 2.3 and manual trans, and has about 170k on it. Basically I'm just wanting to see if there's anything on the cylinder head that would be cause for concern, apart from the bit of rust on the intake valve for cylinder #4 in the first picture down below. And relating to that if i can get away with just cleaning everything up nice, is there anything else I should do?

 

[MT_PLS]

Most machine shops around me will rebuild a 4-cylinder head for $200 - $400. For peace of mind and to avoid aggravation down the road, it would be worth calling around to machine shops and finding out their costs to rebuild the head.

 

[SenorNoob]

If you don't wanna go that far. Clean it REALLY well and get it dry. Use some wood blocks to mount it level upside down. Then fill the chambers with a fluid. (I used PB Blaster cause it's what it had.) Look for it to run into the ports. If it makes it a couple minutes dry, you have a good valve seat. That doesn't tell you anything about warp. (Sheet of glass and a feeler gauge.) Or the valve stem seals.