I picked up the head from the machine shop today. They said the head must have gotten over 240 degrees at some point because the little indicator that was stuck on the side of the head (by the guy who rebuilt my engine I guess) had melted. They said none of the combustion chambers looked any cleaner than the others. When they checked for warpage they couldn't get a 3000th feeler gauge between the head and their straight edge, so it shouldn't have any trouble sealing with the head gasket. They also showed me how they did the pressure test. They seal off an intake or exhaust port with a piece of rubber that has an air hose and gauge attached. They said it should read around 18 psi, but mine were reading from 11 to 15 psi. I told them the engine wasn't missing or lacking power so I was just going to put everything back together with new gaskets and hope for the best. They recommended using some sort of copper-based spray on gasket sealer from Permatex on the head gasket, so I stopped at the NAPA store and bought a can. I have ordered a valve job gasket set from Jim Carter. Once I put everything back together I will flush out the cooling system and run it with water for a while as Joe H suggested. I will let everyone know how this turns out.
Thanks to everyone for all the feedback.

Last edited by BillyDon; 06/09/2014 8:00 PM.
My dad always told me, "Don't force it, get a bigger hammer".