Impressive results! At least you know all that beating hasnt worn the motor in any way, that means you can hammer on it twice as hard for the next 3K!

I had a not so similar event along time ago with a BB 454, dropped a valve but everything that wasnt damaged from the hydrolock while at 6200rpm was still in perfect condition... after it's rebuild I beat on it like no other and didnt even worry about it. Recently sold it to a buddy and he's beating on it like no tomorrow because of that story.

 

jay, what header gaskets are you using? I cant get copper RTV to work long enough, seems every 2 weeks or so its gone.

 

I just got my $20 ebay copper header gaskets. They look just as good as the $60 Summit ones I had, except now I have d port instead of square ones. I ran the square port gaskets without any rtv or anything. I will do the same with the new ones. Is the manifold straight? I found that warped flanges were 3/4 of my problems with exhaust seal problems - I was able to run a paper gasket even once I got it straight. Kept blowing them out before that.

I ordered the flatout head gaskets, we will see how that works out.