I picked up the head gasket today, and then went to work using
Matt G.'s notes on working the cylinder head surface.
I stole a plate of glass out of an old picture frame, and used two pieces of wood and four C-clamps to hold it to the table with a piece of sandpaper.
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I hadn't read Matt's notes again before starting, so I started out with a way too high (1000 grit) paper. It didn't take long to realize that wasn't going to get me anywhere. Here's the head after several hundred strokes on the 1000 grit:
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Eventually, I got to a grit around 260-300. Lots more work, and I had it looking pretty good:
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Then I laid it flat on the glass and checked for gaps with a feeler gauge. It looks pretty good. I'll have to double-check it tomorrow as I was getting pretty tired and was done with it for the night.
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Thanks for the instruction Matt!