Bought these used heads online and the seller didn't package them enough. They've been cleaned and rebuilt. I'm just a poor college student trying to rebuild my lady(Z28). I was really hoping to have this done before skool starts. How screwed am I?

 

I would contact the shipper and seller, Sorry

 

Put the gasket on the head and see where it sets. Those dings are so close to the edge, I don't see it as being an issue as far as proper sealing is concerned..

 

I pulled out an old gasket from the garbage, just threw it away. Got the new gaskets in today, but they got bent pretty good in shipping also. Sent them back for free replacements. This is the first time I've had bad shipping experiences. The dents on the edge of the head are just outside of the gasket. What about this dent on the inside in the second picture? I presume its from where the head was put onto the dowel thats on the block during install at some point in its life.

 

I think youll be fine. The gasket should form to the superficial knicks. Id probably take a rotoray file and simply smooth out the dings on the edges of the head.

 

Yeah I don't see any issue with the second one. The dings on the edge are just cosmetic, as they're past the gasket.

 

better slide a straight edge over them to make sure your good there. what thickness of gasket you using. to make sure your good you could have them shaved and bring up the compression at the same time. lt1 likes high compression. 10.4 is stock, you can go to 12 to 1 and be fine.

 

I had planned on using the 0.026" gasket from mr. gasket. Thats the gasket that I got in today, but the graphite and steel was bent to hell from poor handling. These are the 561 heads with 10-15 more cfm flow vs my 643 cast. Ill port my 643 in the future when I acquire more monies from ma chemistry edjamacation. Took a couple straight things to it and it looks pretty good. Everything besides those dents looks good. My plan was to swap out the valve springs for something that will handle more lift for 1.6rr. Springs I'm looking into have a tolerance for .570" lift and I believe the lt4 springs can handle .540" max lift.

 

those should get your compression up to 10.8 or so. i used the gm performance .028, didnt see the .026 gaskets. change your retainers with the springs.