Many thanks for the great info and patience with responses to my inquiries. Brickboard has once again come to my rescue.

Here's where I am with the project so far:

- The head is off at the shop being cleaned, pressure tested and resurfaced. All appeared to be in good shape, and since I'm short of $$$ let's hope that is in fact the case.

- The offending head gasket has a clean split at the #4 cylinder--exactly the location of the "pee-like" stream of coolant that heralded its failure last Monday morning.

- Tops of pistons look okay, though coated in carbon which is flaking off as time passes. I plan to simply vacuum up the loose stuff and leave the rest alone. ANY SUGGESTIONS?

- Also, the block surface seems to be coated with varnish. Should I try to remove this, and if so, how? It won't scrape off so I wonder if I should use a solvent of some type to clean it up before reassembly. I can also see the pattern of dots from the head gasket on the top of the block--I'll post pictures later. Again, ANY SUGGESTIONS?

- After pulling the head I noticed a loose metal ring rattling around the shaft inside the water pump. Methinks that can't be good, so a new H2O pump will be installed forthwith.

- Also noticed the thermostat was installed upside-down, with the nipple at the bottom/ 6-o'colck position. This was done by the shop that replaced the blown radiator two years ago and might explain why I always heard bubbles in the cooling system.. I'm starting to lose confidence in these guys.

- Everything came apart pretty easily--maybe too easily? PB Blaster was allowed to sit on exhaust bolts/nuts overnight and they came off with very little effort. The head separated from the block with no trouble--and not much force required.

Thanks again for your guidance and helpful suggestions. I'd like to buy you all a pint in gratitude.

Cheers!