"Shafted" may be a pretty strong word. You're only shafted if the individual you bought the heads from had a clue what he was doing. This is one of the areas we have so many problems with, I would LOVE to see some sort of certifying or sanctioning body to establish EXACTLY what "rebuilt" means. To one, it means lapped valves and new seals. To another, it means new parts and ALL machined surfaces showing ANY wear, are refaced. The latter is what it means in MY shop...
We get people trying to sell us cores all the time, telling us the parts "were just redone", thinking that should add value. It does not. In fact, it makes them worth less, unless the source of the "redone" is known, AND known to be good. This is because we, as a shop, must redo the stuff to our specs, if we're to be expected to honor any sort of warranty.
You (anyone, not just this case) are almost ALWAYS ahead, if you simply buy cores (usually with a guarentee of no cracks), and build them. As a machine shop owner, the arguement could be made that I'm just trying to generate work. Not true. I'm trying to help you guys avoid having to pay twice to get something done.
If the price on e-bay seems to good, it probably is. Unless they are asking more than it costs to rebuild something, it is NOT rebuilt. Do the math...
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