No. 6 Cylinder . . . followed closely by No. 5. Rounding out the field are the other four cylinders which on most engines probably would have won the race outright.
I have no idea how this engine was running so well. The head gaskets were in such bad shape it is difficult not to declare them bad at every cylinder. However, No. 6 was definitely leaking outright and looks like it has been doing so for some time as evidenced by rust on the block at the edge of the cylinder. No. 5 cylinder was leaking as well but not quite as badly.
Overall, the metal rings around each cylinder are distorted and easily pulled away from the gaskets as I removed them. Despite this, the other four cylinders appeared to hold on somehow and did not appear to be leaking.
These head gaskets did not 'blow.' They simply rolled over and died of old age. As such, it looks like it is going to be a witch's tit to get all the old gasket off the block but I will get it done. Also, I will be cleaning the valves, checking the guides, etc. No reason to expect the heads to be warped, but I will check that as well. AND . . . I will put it all back together with the OEM head bolts as these were definitely NOT the problem.
MDT Tech - you were spot on with your prediction of No. 6 being 'the culprit.' But, really the head gaskets were completely shot.
Thanks to everyone for the input on this one.
Luther
P.S.
With regard to the racing studs, I can see the point that was made that this would make pulling the heads in the future more difficult. Pulling them straight out for the length of the stud would definitely bang against the firewall and/or stuff mounted on it (particularly if the crossover pipe is left attached to one side as some people do to avoid the hassle of getting to that bottom nut on the right side.) Also, I don't know that there is enough clearance inside the valve covers to leave enough threads exposed to double nut the studs and remove them prior to pulling the heads as someone suggested. It's rather tight in there and it might prove difficult to get a wrench and a socket on to set the second nut. I'm not saying it cannot be done; I'm just saying these might be issues.