The only way I know of that a machine shop's work could cause a bent valve would be if the valve stem to guide clearance was too tight and the valve opened and stayed open. That seems unlikely.


As far as the gaskets; head gaskets definitely cannot be reused! There is a certain level of "crush" the gasket does when torqued and it won't do it twice. The only exception to this are solid copper head gaskets used in race engines.

I might reuse the exhaust gaskets. I don't think I'd reuse the intake gaskets, especially if there is a coolant passage in them.


How did you determine this machine shop was a good one?
You know, there is a possibilty that the "problems" this garage was having with their old machine shop was not the machine shop at all, but this same sort of situation.