Unfortunately, my old head did not have enough thickness for another milling.  This meant buying another head.  I thought about having some extra work done while this head was in a shop, but it wasn't in the budget.  It wasn't until my rod knock that I was able to build the head. 

It took 5 days for the machine shop to get another head in and build it up.  I only did one thing besides remove the plastic and the wood strips along the bottom, and that was install the new cam seals.  I used a large socket as the install tool, and just gently tapped it in with a hammer. 

The 34 hours of work that I have totaled here is the amount of time the shop spent taking the old parts out of the old head and putting them into the new one.  Since the head is brand new, I decided not to have the heli-coils installed. 

After two blown head gaskets, I think I need to take active measures to ensure I don't warp this new head.  There has been some discussion about how the back part of the engine bay is so much hotter than the front, I think I will vent the hood somehow.

While I was waiting for the head, I detailed the engine bay.

1- Be careful when moving the head around- with the cams installed the valves stick out the bottom and are vulnerable.  My new head came with 2 wood strips so the head could be set down without the vavles touching.

None

It sure is all pretty, nice, and clean.  Time to install it.