I threw in the towel. Took the block to Sunwest and said to do a reman. They still have the head and they're gonna do it too.Too many other things going on to worry about it. I asked about the claim made by Classic Inlines about the timing gears being retarded on later 250's to lower emissions. Mike said, "Yup, we always make 'em have the early spec gears. Unless of course you want the newer ones."
My answer, "Nope, nope and nope. Use what you usually use."
I also asked them to let me have access to the head after disassembly. A little layout fluid, bolt up the exhaust manifold and then get busy with a rotary file. Now is the time to massage the manifold a bit to match the head. That's a few xtra ponies raht there.
My credit card company is gonna love me for a few months. Just wish I could afford to have the compression raised a bit.