340 with edelbrock heads overheating

This thread - I read as much as I could stand - is full of the usual bad ideas.

In those pics, I don't see any sign the valves were hitting the pistons. Maybe they were, but it doesn't look like it. And of course, even if they were it would have nothing to do with overheating.

Do people really think 2 degrees of intial timing, or any timing, is gonna turn an engine from a cool runner into an overheat-er? I guess they do.....

Since the issue began with the head swap, that's where to start looking. Not the freakin radiator, not the freakin shroud. Not a freakin clutch fan and for f'in sure not a GD water pump pulley or thermostat.

I always wonder why guys think their ultra-bad *** V8 has any more right to overheat than a stock Slant 6. I'm also amazed that the same guys think their 700HP engine makes 700HP all the time so of course it needs a 700HP radiator. It don't.

This issue is more than likely head gasket related...but then, looking at the crummy condition of the block head surface who knows...? I was expecting to see a fresh, clean engine given that it had just seen a head swap.