Possible blown head gasket or worse

Sigh...what are you guys doing #-o

1. Stop guessing. Go take the head and have it checked at a reputable machine shop. They'll tell if it's cracked or needs surfacing. My opinion is it needs neither.

2. The white valves mean NOTHING. That's just how exhaust valves look when they operate because of the intense heat. It MIGHT be running a little lean but that's because of that admitted huge vacuum leak. Antifreeze stays on valves about 2/10's of a second, then the heat burns it away. You don't need valves because they are white, that's uninformed craziness. When the valve head has a chunk missing, or the head is busted off, yep you need a new valve then. Anyway, if the think was half-assed back together, with a four barrel for God's sakes....of course it's not going to run well.

3. When a head gasket blows there's lots of steam out the exhaust and it pushes water out the radiator. Saw no mention of those symptoms.

4. The 1/4 turns sounds like somebody tried to time it by "ear", meaning twisting the distributor one way or the other and got it out of time.

5. Your friend doesn't need to touch another tool or car part until he knows what he's doing. You aren't helping much by dissecting his engine as part of the guessing game.

6. I saw no mention of a compression test, vacuum gauge reading, valve adjustment or timing adjustment with a LIGHT. These are the basics any good mechanic performs on a poorly running engine FIRST. You don't start pulling heads off and looking for mystery patterns on the carbon on the valves. that's strictly amateur stuff.

I know I'm being hard on you but I ruined a couple engines back in the day screwing around. Have the head checked, put it back together PROPERLY and go from there. Otherwise, have your fun "analyzing" the engine, then get your friend into the nearest Cavalier he can find and don't EVER let him near another vintage Mopar.

Here is what your goal is:

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