340 head gasket questions
#1 My 340 bare block is back from hot tank and deck surfacing. There are two very small holes in the decks on both sides located between the two center cylinders. The Felpro head gaskets (260 1121) have two tiny holes that correspond to the holes in the freshly milled block surface. However, the holes (in my case) seem to not be freely open all the way to the coolant passage area. I can stick a wire in the hole, but it stops almost right away (1/8"?). Do you think rust has plugged up the holes and I need to break thru? If so, do the holes reach all the way to the bottom of the cylinder?
#2 This is probably obvious, but the gasket package does not state which side faces "up" for the cylinder head or intake gaskets. I assume the "up" side is the side that has some kind of diagonal blue stripes. Is that right? Thank you.
One more thing, there are also the same small holes centered at the very REAR of the block deck surface but I don't see the same two small corresponding holes at the FRONT. It looked like a picture of a 340 block on the internet had these holes both front and rear (block has a 1971 casting date).
small center holes (is the right side one completely plugged up?):
#1 My 340 bare block is back from hot tank and deck surfacing. There are two very small holes in the decks on both sides located between the two center cylinders. The Felpro head gaskets (260 1121) have two tiny holes that correspond to the holes in the freshly milled block surface. However, the holes (in my case) seem to not be freely open all the way to the coolant passage area. I can stick a wire in the hole, but it stops almost right away (1/8"?). Do you think rust has plugged up the holes and I need to break thru? If so, do the holes reach all the way to the bottom of the cylinder?
#2 This is probably obvious, but the gasket package does not state which side faces "up" for the cylinder head or intake gaskets. I assume the "up" side is the side that has some kind of diagonal blue stripes. Is that right? Thank you.
One more thing, there are also the same small holes centered at the very REAR of the block deck surface but I don't see the same two small corresponding holes at the FRONT. It looked like a picture of a 340 block on the internet had these holes both front and rear (block has a 1971 casting date).
small center holes (is the right side one completely plugged up?):