engine damage?

[deadlois]

I finally got around to pulling off my head to change out the gasket, it was confirmed blown. What bothered me was the bottom of the intake manifold, under the valley pan gasket. It seem there is breakage of the block above the cam and especially toward the front, like big pieces missing and what not. I didnt see any debris, so it might be just years of use. Just wondering if anyone else has this same issue and is it somethin that is just waiting to blow up in my face? BTW it has about 120k. Pics to follow.

 

[Boost231]

yup

normall for us hotair blocks. looks like chucks are missing rough edges and all. its normall. look on gnttype.org at the block pics its on there as well.

 

[deadlois]

kool, what is it, wear and tear and metal breakdown?

 

[cool 84]

That's how they're cast. When doing a rebuild I always use a dremel and smooth the valley area. The later "109" blocks were cast solid and holes were drilled, making it look much nicer. Nothing to worry about though. I thought the same thing the first time I took mine apart.