[Mike_The_Grad]

To confirm what I found and what I did when I assembled the engine. I had the machine shop "Zero Deck" my engine block. Well they reinstalled the original dowel pins back into the block for me. I just took some measurements with my digital caliper. The total depth of the dowel pin recess in the cylinder head is 0.433 inches. The "crushed" thickness of my head gasket is approximately 0.046. The dowel pin height above the engine block surface is about 0.308. The dowel pin diameter is roughly 0.310. Which is exactly the id of the cylinder head dowel pin recess. Also there isnt really any type of chamfer on these dowel pins. The cylinder head has a slightly smaller diameter towards the bottom of the dowel pin recess which starts to taper at 0.250 below the head surface. Basically what I'm getting at is I need to chamfer the dowel pins in the engine block because they are interfering with the cylinder heads ability to sit flush against the block. So, I believe that this is the reason the head gasket was more prone to blowing out. In addition to a lean running condition which is apparent due to all of my cylinder head valves are white as chalk.