remember to figure out why that valve is open on your old head, make sure it's not bent and if it is find out why. And also replace the lifters and pushrods (not optional at this point for you given the history) to avoid any issues (they are dirt cheap so not an issue there).
I will be getting back to work on it this weekend, weather permitting (no garage).
I had planned on replacing the rods, rockers, lifters, pivots & retainers. Since I'm putting the work into putting a new head on it, I might as well have all newer hardware.
And my brother-in-law (who has been a Chrysler mechanic for about 9 years now) was helping me break it down last weekend. He said visually the bottom end looked good, but as we all know (him included) we can't tell 100% for sure unless it's broken all the way down. And the valve guide appeared to the be problem. His thought was that I just bought myself some time by having the #3 done awhile back, when I should have had the whole valve train redone.
Que sera sera...
Will let ya'll know when i get it back together...
The donor motor owner that sold me the reman'd head also had a 4.0 TB on the motor & the rest of the motor too. Wanna take the intake to have it bored to match the 4.0 TB bore, and have it sandblasted & polished out internally too...
I figure that'll help it inhale a little better, and along with the new headers I was given it'll exhale better too...