Thanks Russ - you might say there are "a few hours" of work in that engine block - starting with a NOS engine from WWII.
I decided to use the Cometic gaskets as an expensive test - wanted to see how well they did as they are probably a viable option for a decent amount of boost, such that we don't have to do CNC O-Rings in the block and heads (which really help in high levels of boost, but are not easy to implement).
I built this engine as kind of my 'experimental' platform to try a few things out (like the really long duration roller cam, coatings on pistons, valves, bearings, nitriding a Merc crank, etc).
are you happy with the results so far? Any boost applied?