Thats the problem I am suspecting. Noticed a 'miss' to it recently, showing signs of a burnt valve on driver's side. Once I get it apart, I would bet there's a crack in that same combustion chamber. I don't want to put yet another set of 'rebuilt' magnums on it. So it looks like I have few options. Find and rebuild a set of older EQ's, buy the newer chinesium EQ's of questionable quality/durability, or pointlessly shell out $2K for edelbrock aluminum heads for a totally stock cruiser car.
From what I've read, the old EQ's didn't have freeze plugs on the ends like magnums and new EQ's do. The problem is, when walking through a junkyard, you cant see the ends of the heads to tell what it has because there's so much crap bolted over the front of the heads. Any other tips on how to identify a set while on a complete motor. There's an old junkyard near me full of 50+ years of accumulated cars and trucks, maybe there's a set in there.