You all validated what I suspected. I will sleep better having made the investment to go through these heads completely. Others that believe the OOTB viability of these heads, YMMV..
Agree with the surface finish comment too Moper, the .003 true up cut we made first was primarily to remove this pattern roughness. Then it took a second pass .003 to get below the uneven areas. Even tho I'm not running MLS - going FelPro composite with only 10.5:1 static, the head surfaces are much improved (and jewel-like) now.