Pulled the Mess that was my Timing Chain....

Dodge72 said

My dad, of course, knew this guy who /gave away/ a slant with 90k original miles not too long ago.

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Well, my /6 engine with 60k original miles was in pretty sad shape in the bores; they had to be bored out to .040" oversize since the prior owner had run it of thousands of miles with a bad carb leak and the "oil" was as much gas as motor oil. So you never know with a used engine. I tend to be one to rebuild what you have for that very reason.

As Charrlie sez: the wear in the block behind the cam sprocket is the concern. I doubt you can put any thin hardened washer in there; it'll just cause more issues since the cam can float some. You could weld the groove up and regrind with the right techniques, or weld in a hardened shim and finish to the right thickness, but block replcement is the easiest.

I would use your present head if you rebuild; look at the www.slantsix.org articles for the head article.