Off with my Head. Part 3.

Good news

The machine shop called - the cylinder head passed the pressure test!

Bad news

The machine shop called again - the cylinder head failed the pressure test!

The real news

While the head passed, the valves were not holding pressure. Not a big deal since a valve job would tighten this up. On to the valve job!

The really bad news

When polishing the head for the valve job the shop found cracks in the exhaust ports for cylinders 2 and 3. At least one of the cracks extends outside of the valve seat area into the head.
You can't really see the cracks in this pictures so I marked the locations on the head with a marker.So why didn't this show up in the pressure test? The cracks may open up when the head is hot, or the leak may have been solely from a failed gasket. Regardless, I need to find a replacement cylinder head. I'm working a couple of leads but this may take a while. The late heads have a greater tendency to crack.

I removed the remaining studs from the block. If you break one off you have to pull the lump and take the engine to a machine shop. Removing 4 stuck studs took 2 hours of gentle heat, persuasion and patience.

The quest for a replacement head begins...