262 Valve seats, are inserts necessary?

BigBoy

I am rebuilding my 1950 262. The machinist is telling me, that I should have hardened valve seat inserts installed. Such seats have a Rockwell C hardness of between 35 & 45.  (won't be running propane) Does anyone know the R/C hardness of the Hudson chrome alloy block?  If the block is as hard as, or harder than the insert, unless there is seat recession, I don't see any advantage in using inserts.
Has valve seat recession ever really been a problem with 262s?

I am looking at the Well-Tite inserts, if needed.
http://www.martinwellsco.com/index.php/valve-seats/
They seem to combine and balance hardness, wearability, & good heat transfer.

Has anyone used such inserts?  How did that work out?

RL Chilton

As I've posted many times before, it's one of those things that can't possibly hurt and may very well help.  You're in there, so why not do it?  Is it necessary?  That's subjective and open for debate.  With the hardened Hudson blocks, really not IMO.  However, I did do my exhaust seats.

53jetman

I have put severl thousand miles on Hudsons in the last 20 years without having new valve seats installed, and when I took the head off to check, the block looked as new - no recession -  I've been told that the Hudson block is harder than any replacement valve seat, and believe it.

lostmind

if he knows how to properly grind the seats in the block , there is no need for replacement seats.

good quality valves , and you will be good for many miles , probably more then you will drive the vehicle.

BigBoy

I pulled the head, and the valves look to be in good shape, except for a lot of carbon.  No indication of recession.  None of the valves were stuck.  I may not need a full rebuild. 

Park_W

And in addition to that, responsible test report articles say that the valve seat recession thing is a bit overblown in the first place, especially for our "hobby cars."  And it isn't a problem in most engines if they're doing "normal duty," i.e. not trailer pulling, sustained high speed driving, etc.

Per

     Since 2003 I've driven around the country with Dan McNichol, first in a '51 Pacemaker coupe, and more recently in a '49 Commodore sedan powered by the same Pacemaker engine and overdrive transmission.  About 25,000 miles ago we did a valve job, putting in new exhaust valves and surfacing the valve seats.  Of the 51,000 miles we've put on the engine, close to 50,000 have been on highways.  The engine is still working well!

               Per