1993 Cylinder Heads

[Joe W.]

Preparing for next months SE Regional meet in Chattanooga, I dropped my 93 off at our local Chevrolet dealership for minor maintenance and was informed that I had a noisy valve on the #7 cylinder. Upon inspection they found that the rocker arm was cocked and had damaged the valve seat and guide. The head was sent to a local machine shop where it was determined that the head could not be repaired. (GM no longer produces the valve guides and seat)

With just 26,000 pampered miles on the clock and my first NCRS meet coming soon, I'm very disappointed that the head has to be replaced. To make matters worse, the dealer is having difficulty locating a new head. The car has been sitting at the dealership for over a week.

Has anyone encountered a similar problem with the LT1. Any advice is welcome.

Thank you in advance.

Joe Walker

[Clem Z.]

Re: 1993 Cylinder Heads

Preparing for next months SE Regional meet in Chattanooga, I dropped my 93 off at our local Chevrolet dealership for minor maintenance and was informed that I had a noisy valve on the #7 cylinder. Upon inspection they found that the rocker arm was cocked and had damaged the valve seat and guide. The head was sent to a local machine shop where it was determined that the head could not be repaired. (GM no longer produces the valve guides and seat)

With just 26,000 pampered miles on the clock and my first NCRS meet coming soon, I'm very disappointed that the head has to be replaced. To make matters worse, the dealer is having difficulty locating a new head. The car has been sitting at the dealership for over a week.

Has anyone encountered a similar problem with the LT1. Any advice is welcome.

Thank you in advance.

Joe Walker

any "GOOD" auto machine shop can repair your head.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1993 Cylinder Heads

any "GOOD" auto machine shop can repair your head.

clem and Joe-----


I agree with clem; I don't see why this head cannot be repaired. The valve seat and guide were NEVER available from GM as separate parts, so there's nothing new about that. However, they are easily available in the aftermarket. It may not even be necessary to replace the complete guide.

Furthermore, even if there is damage to cylinder head, itself, these heads are cast from ALUMINUM. They can be weld-repaired. There are cylinder head repair specialty shops around the country that I feel very confident could repair your head. American Cylinder Head Repair in Oakland, CA is one that I know of.

If you decide that you want to go with another cylinder head, it is true that the GM piece is discontinued. The original cylinder head for your application was GM PART #10128382. It was discontinued in July, 1998 and replaced by GM PART #10205244. Unfortunately, the latter was discontinued without supercession in October, 1999. As far as I know, both cylinder heads carried casting #10205245 but it's possible that original engines used heads with a different casting number. In any event, you'd want a head with the same casting number as the one you have. The 1993 LT1 heads were unique to 1993 and I don't know how they differ from 1992 and 94-95. The 94-95 head, GM PART #10168448 is still available from GM (for about 1450 bucks, GM list, BARE).

For a used head, try the following:

Steve Arcoleo in New York

GM Sports Salvage, San Jose, CA

[Joe W.]

Re: 1993 Cylinder Heads

Clem and Joe,

Thank you for your response! I contacted the machine shop this afternoon and they assured me that they can repair the head. The head should be repaired and installed early next week.

Thanks again!

Joe Walker