Healthy Head?

ch1ll said
Total cleanup and check block for flatness. Take the head to the machine shop and have cleaned, flatness checked and get a valve job. Check spring pressures and valve guides.

Thanks. Gonna bring it over to the machine shop tomorrow.

RustyRatRod said
Take a fingernail and scrape it up the side of the cylinders all the way out the top. If you can catch your fingernail on the ridge at the top, the bore is worn enough it needs boring. If you can catch your nail on the ridge really BAD, it's wore slam out, and while rebuilding the head will help "a little" you'll basically be throwing money in the fire without seeing to the short block.

I gotta say it looks worse than reality in the images. Fingernail test proved alright for most cylinders. Got some more buildup at the ridge of cylinder #3 than the others but even so, while it does catch, it's relatively easy to scrape by...
How's about cleaning the innards of the cylinders themselves? Got a whole bunch of free floating carbon excess & coolant in there (that I'm hoping just spilled in while removing head)...