Are these blemishes on the block between the cylinders something to be concerned about?

If you are talking about the scratches in the block between the cylinders, the manual should have a spec for acceptable variations in surface smoothness. The marks almost look like the result of scraping gaskets

"Doc" wrote

Some over-enthusiastic gasket "scraping" using a hammer and chisel?

Either we are looking at the surface of Mars, or like Ray and Master said, someone did a really inconsiderate job of gasket scraping. I would not be too concerned with them. Head gaskets do the majority of sealing just around the outside of the bore. There is usually a metallic sealing ring made in that area.

Ouch!

That is really too bad. It sure looks like the head was dropped on it's edge on top of the engine block. Those are nasty, nasty dents.

I do not believe you can seal that with a head gasket alone.

The block needs a resurface shave....

There 'might' be some kind of gasket maker that will hold compression with a new head gasket, but I am not up on the newer chemical concoctions.

Mike

Your not even close to done cleaning the top of that block yet.

Yeah, that's the conclusion I've come to. I figure if it's deep enough for me to feel with my finger and fingernail, it's deep enough to cause a breach in the seal. By machining standards, that's like a river bed.

Believe me, it's clean. Several careful passes with a honed putty knife between soakings in gasket remover, then several careful passes with a razor blade. What you're seeing is the condition of the metal. Those abrasions are deep enough to feel with my fingernail or my fingertip.

Doc wrote in news:1181076053.607079.277510 @p47g2000hsd.googlegroups.com:

looked at your jpg's...good resolution!......as far as the deck condition: not bad at all really. now when you finally finish it for fitting the head im sure it will seal fine...what im seeing in the pictures is a half done deck job. after removing debris it needs a good rotating disk (100 grit) to get it up to standrds....or pull it and send it to the machine shop. they need the money too!