Hi Pishta: I tried to pull one of them out, but it wouldn't budge. I had the head in the machine shop for rework two years ago. Should have done it then, but I didn't notice the rods inside there. Had I noticed, I'd definitely have had them extract the rods. It was impossible for me to move them even the slightest bit. Perhaps they're rusted into the iron head casting. This whole thing puzzles me. Why would the foundry leave this foreign matter in the head back in the day? All they needed to do was to yank them out and then send the head to its engine. Like leaving a socket wrench in the floor of the car as it's being built along the assembly line. It doesn't belong there. Shows how anal I am, I guess.
