Head off Any other while I'm in there repairs?
 

I have the following planned besides the new head gasket

new CAS oring
new valve cover gasket
new cam seals
new intake manifold gasket
new thermostat gaskets
new under CAS heater hose

I would like to add a coolant re route but money.

I would like to replace the oring in the rear of the head coolant housing thing but it didnt leak and looks in good shape also its hard to find one. May have to go to mazda dealer or just silicone it.

Valve job, valve stem seals, and a quick resurface/skim.

The head has been surfaced and passed the valve seal test.

There's a test?

I just do a full head service job every time i have a head off, whether or not it needs it. Just seems easier that way.

Anyways, carry on. :)

Same test any half-decent machinist does when he's done assembling the head. Draw vacuum on the ports with a vacuum pump (pro method) or fill the ports with mineral spirits and make sure they're still full in an hour (poverty method). I always get a laugh out of shops that don't do this simple test and turn "fresh" cylinder heads with leaky valves back to customers. :party:

Glue (JB Weld?) silver dollars to the tops of the pistons to increase compression.

Also known as the Perez mod.

I think above bro was confused because he thought I was talking about a test for the valve seals rather than the one to test valves sealing.

The head has very low miles on it. It was rebuilt by previous owner and runs and looks very nice and new. Except for wanting to not be straight or seal to the block anymore.

thats the dumbest thing I ever heard. silver would just melt. gonna make some custom tungsten and iridium coins. watch for kickstarter link drop

If saving the last buck is of interest, I'd skip replacing the valve cover gasket.
It's a good chance the old one will seal and it's the easiest one to replace if needed.

I have a new one on the shelf but the 100k+ mi one still seals after taking the cover off/on a huge number of times.
But one datapoint makes no stat.