I'm about to reinstall my heads on my engine; however, I've noticed that on the #7 cylinder, near top of the cylinder bore and "wrapping" onto the top of the cylinder deck, there is a black "blotchy" area. It would not come off when cleaning it--that is, a carb-cleaner and a razor blade wouldn't take it off. I don't know if that means that it's part of the metal, or if it's below the surface. It stops before it actually hits the area where the rings contact. Running my finger across it, it feels slightly rougher than the other clean surfaces.

I have no idea what happened there or if I need to worry about it. Any opinions?

I've attached a picture.

Thanks!

 

Hard to tell, but from the picture it looks like it might be corrosion.

 

you sure that's not a stubborn piece of the old head gasket?

 

Thats what I thought at first too. Notice how it laps down into the cylinder bore though?

 

Yeah you do have a point there.... unless the old gasket started to blow when you pulled your engine. What's the reason you have it apart? a freshening up, or you doing some performance upgrades? How did it run when you took it out?

 

It does not appear to be serious to me. It looks like there was a very small water seep there for a long time, and it rusted the metal.

Just make sure the deck is clean, it should be fine.

 

Thanks for the replies; I didn't think anything was really wrong, but I just wanted to be sure.

FYI -- This is a rebuilt engine that I am changing the head gaskets on.