HG job, pistons dented?
 

I'm mid head gasket job right now. I actually ordered a rebuilt head before I started as I suspected a valve guide seal going bad in the current one. After removing all my turbo stuff :( and removing the head, I noticed a bunch of dents in 3 out of 4 pistons. #4 cylinder is immaculate, although it was the cylinder with the HG leak

frankly, I think I was a bit premature on ordering the head, as when looking at the current head, it almost looks like the previous owner, or owner before him, had the top end at least cleaned. Bottom end might have been serviced before as the crosshatchings seem to be still good?

question: do I end up taking everything out and end up getting the block checked? only problems before were some grayish smoke (hg leak and possible valve guide), or do I slap it back together with the remanufactured head and hope for the best?

#1 piston
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1330729329

pretty clean head
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1330729329

cross hatchings visible
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1330729607

Pics of the quench pads? That is strange.

I'll get a pic of them later as I'm off to work, however when I took a look at them, I didn't notice any damage. I'm only guessing at the previous owner replacing the head or valves after something got sucked in and reused the pistons

Someone may have milled the head lots (not a bad thing, as you can improve quench quite a bit on these heads).

Clay your motor if you want to be sure of clearance.

Ingestion damage for sure. I doubt it will affect the function of the motor too much, but it's not normal.

bwahhahah, got a chance to take a pic :)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1330763392

looks pretty good eh? :P now I'm not regretting ordering that rebuilt head