Probably going to look at a set of 083 heads tomorrow that were pulled from a blown motor. Guy said they're from a crate motor. He said there's beads of melted aluminum visible on the backside of the valve from the engine blowing. Does this make sense? I wouldn't pay much for them, but should I even bother? How can I know if they are salvageable just by looking at them? Can I set em on a flat granite table to see if they are warped?

 

Yea, you can set them on granite to see if they are flat. But it sounds like it needs all new valves, probably a valve job, and most likely to be decked.
Keep in mind 083 heads are not particularly magic or special at all.

I wouldn't pay more than $50 for them, if they needed work. Otherwise i'd just be looking at aftermarket heads or something.

 

A granite table doesn't work very well because you can only see the outside edges. A straightedge is better for the task.

At the very least the heads should be disassembled, cleaned, and checked out thoroughly. A money-back should be assumed if they don't check out. Who pays the shop fee for checking them will have to be negotiated.

I don't know of any crate engines that came with 083 heads. A replacement engine 10-15 years ago, maybe.

 

I went ahead and sprung for em. Ended up paying $50. I suppose if they turn out to be bad I'm not out too much.

083's are the best for my application with the exception of $1400+ aftermarket heads. They will bolt on to my LO5 in place of the 193 swirl ports, run fine under my TBI, can be reasonably modified to accept a 490 lift cam, flow to 5500 in a purely street driven car, and allow retention of all factory-looking LO3 smog equipment/EGR for CA emissions, who still think I have an LO3 under the hood.