I'm in the middle of doing both head gaskets. The ONLY reason I'm doing them is because I tore the engine down to do lifters. Figured I'd do it while I was in there... I got AB's head gasket set with the composite gaskets. When I pulled the heads I found that BOTH head gaskets were leaking at BOTH ENDS of each head. I've been losing just a little coolant over maybe a thousand miles. Maybe a little less. Nothing of concern. I just figured there's so many leaks on the thing it was just a really small leak some where hardly noticeable. Boy was I wrong. All 4 coolant ports had been leaking. You can't even see the signs of leakage on the rear of the heads until you pull them. What amazed me was when I broke free the very first head bolt from the front driver head, instantly coolant starting running out between the head and block. All I did was turn the head bolt about 1/4" in the loosen direction. 3 of my lifters had not been spinning in their bores and were extremely worn. That was my cold engine knock. I also found that 4 of my exhuast valve seats were so corroded that I can't even imagine how they were sealing. Anyways... just thought I'd post this incase any one else is losing a small amount of coolant and can't find a leak. I didn't even suspect them to be bad. Engine ran fine other wise. If all the ports were leaking front, rear, pass side and driver I imagine a lot more out there are too....

 

Thanks for the update - how about some pix?

 

You never replace lifters in our engine when there is cam wear, especially when the lifters are not rotating, without replacing the cam, otherwise the cam and lifters will fail quickly, again.