It's been awhile for me - but can I get a read on these head gaskets and valves. Motor ran fine. Just looking to freshen up and do some top end. iOS the water jacket areas normal?
looks normal to me. Standard clean up by the way small block Chevy... better watch it... the prudes will get upset if it's later than 64... not hamb friendly.
not many guys running the steel shim head gaskets these days. But yeah, the corrosion on the gasket is normal if you don't run antifreeze and change it regularly. Kind of hard to see much of the valves...they look the right color, and don't appear to be sunk in, so I guess they're ok? Hard to tell how loose the guides are from this viewpoint, though.
Why do you say not internal? Motor ran well - but was ran on water and did have a radiator leak - prior owner was not into maintenance. I don't know how many miles are on the rebuild - but it is super clean inside.
usual places to look for clues about a rebuild, are the bearing inserts (they often have date codes and undersize markings), piston oversize, bore condition, valve guide appearance/looseness, etc. Not much for us to go on here!
Valve springs look pretty caked (from time and miles) as does the combustion chamber with what appears to be some large chunks of carbon that could be chunked off. Okay, so the carbon in the CC's could have been due to the tune it had...but look at the valve springs...look well used from the dark oil on them (JMO)
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