Toyota Corolla : Recondition Engine or Try Source Newish one?

Looking to get the engine in my Toyota Corolla 1995 1.8 Sprinter Reconditioned or just replace it because my "mechanic" says the stem cells (?) are fudged for lack of a better word. Car is smoking from the exhaust..nothing hectic just coming from a cold start. It's a 4A-FE Engine
So to any one who has had their cars engine redone, would a Reconditioning be alright or did you get more issues after that? Any reputable workshops in JHB do a great job with minimal issues ?

Hehehe the valve stem seals are very minor boet. Ask the mech to just replace the seals - its a very cheap fix buddy - no need to stress.
Or if you have mechanic - go to an engineering shop - they will do it for you, cost will be a new head gasket (genuine toyota) and labour.

Good luck man. and to correct - if you have the 1.8 - then its 7AFE and not 4AFE

super lol at stem cells

Replace the valve stem guides as well as the valve stem seals.
If the valve stem guides are worn and you just replace the seals then the valve stem can still wobble inside the valve stem guide and that will ruin the new seals very quickly.

While you're at it - it may not be a bad idea to recondition the entire head.
You can most likely keep the existing valves. Just have the valves reground and the valve seats in the head recut and then get the valves reseated (they lap the valves back into the new seats with grinding paste).
If the head is not warped you can skip a head skim.

New parts:
- Valve stem guides
- Valve stem seals
- Head gasket kit

Service:
- Fit new guides and seals
- Regrind valves (check if new valves are possibly cheaper)
- Recut valve seats
- Lap valves into valve seat

Total cost should be less than R3000 but I haven't had it done for many years so I may be out of touch.

If however there are more problems (worn cylinders, pistons, conn rods, etc.) a recon engine may work out cheaper.
However my experience with recon or second hand engines is not good. You never know what you're getting and some places are cheap skates and give you a piece of junk in exchange.

If the engine does not knock at all (big ends, small ends or piston slap) then my advice is to get a compression check done and if the compression is still good (means the piston and cylinders are fine) just have the head redone.
No need to fix what ain't broken.

^ Agreed with the above points.

Have to do my car's valve stem seals. 4A-FE engine.

Alrighty..anyone know somewhere where they specialize with reconditioning engine heads? Would rather not have my mechanic fiddle around with the engine as I don't really know if he knows how to attend to all that really well.

Edit : Yep it is a 7AFE