Sending the transmission out to have new gears cut meant I had plenty of time to clean up the head and block, and get them painted before sending the head in to have valve seats ground, have the guides checked, and replaced if necessary, and install the valve seals.

The first step was to get all the grease and grime from between the cooling fins.  The picture doesn't really show it all, but I had to use a pressure washer to knock out most of it before I could even attempt to blast it.  Surprisingly, it worked great!  After it dried from the pressure washing, it only took about an hour in the blasting cabinet to make it look almost new again!  The pictures below are the before pictures.

Here's a before and after on two of the four cylinder chambers.  The glass beading process really cleaned out all the old carbon buildup, and even removed carbon and deposits from inside the valve chamber and the intake and exhaust ports.  Glass bead is great, it isn't too aggressive on aluminum, and it really cleaned up the valve seats!  The imprint from the head gasket can still be seen, but it's real smooth, ready for a new gasket.

Part way through the blasting process, I decided to show another before and after.  I'm really impressed with this blasting cabinet!  The photo on the right shows the head after blasting, but also after being painted with Alumi-blast.  It really makes it shine!  Now the head is ready to go to the machine shop to be reworked.  Valve seats will get a new grind, guides will be checked and replaced if needed, oil seals replaced, and the valves will be hand lapped to the new seats, and installed - ready to go!

Below is just one sample of how effective the blasting cabinet is.  The exhaust port on the left shows quite a bit of carbon deposit and build-up.  You can tell, even though the picture is a bit out of focus!  On the right, clean as a whistle!

This picture shows the condition of the valves, seats, and chambers after all the headwork is complete.  The valve seats were ground, the valves refaced, and new guides and seals installed.  Even the valve clearances were adjusted and shimmed, since it's way easier to do on the bench.

This head is ready to be installed.

Here is how the head assembly looks after the cam cover has been degreased, blasted, and painted.  It's sitting on top of the head as it will be installed.  This really makes the engine look brand new again!

An important note here:  All the glass beading is wonderful, but you wouldn't believe all the little nooks and cranny's that the media gets into.  Each of these items that spent time in the blasting cabinet gets put into a large pail (I used one for a turkey fryer) and boiled in water for about 30 minutes.  You'd be surprised at how much media manages to get cleaned out using this method.  But believe me, it won't get it all out.  I did oil changes the first 200 miles, and then at 600, and again at 1000, just to make sure I got all the media out of the engine.

OK, the pictures below were taken after the block was pressure cleaned, blasted, and painted.  The only thing that hasn't been done yet it having the cylinders bored out for the new pistons.  I just didn't take any before pictures, but you gotta admit, after the paint job, this block looks BRAND NEW!  Next.