Custom Cometic head gasket pics

nm9stheham said

Not arguing against this idea overall, but I can see most of the coolant taking the direct path to the outlet, which is past the the front 2 cylinders in the head. There is nothing that will force the coolant for flow to the back, and IMHO it will suffer from lower/starved flow as there is more flow restriction going that way simply due to the longer path. In fact, I would not be surprised if the coolant going through the #2 and #3 lower coolant holes would push back a bit towards the back and stall any flow coming up from lower hole #4. I am certain that is why the stock holes ARE restricted in the places pointed to by the arrows.
I'd be putting some mild restrictions into the #1, 2, and 3 lower coolant holes in the block to attempt to equalize the flow up to all sections of the head.

Click to expand...

As said before, there will be generous coolant lines run from the back of the head to a manifold. The coolant should exit fairly equally front and rear. The coolant path length to the back of the block and heads
Is the same. That's why the feed is to the middle frost plug.
If you were still feeding the coolant to the front then I can see the center holes in the gaskets being restricted, as you would need to force the water to the back of the head. But the stock system does not force much water past the exhaust valves because it all goes to the back 1 inch hole in the back of the block and then up into the head and then to the front manifold.
You also need to remember why there are two exhaust valves side by side. To operate a heat riser valve prior to fuel injection. No modern v8 engine have this valve layout anymore. Our small blocks were intentionally designed to run hotter in the center.