I'm long overdue for an update post... recently got fired so life has been hectic. Sorry for the wait!
Following Jim's post, I reassembled the head. I took the time to vapor blast it and I have to say I'm much happier with how it looks, here's a before and after.
Here's a picture of it on with the sealer ready to be assembled
Blasted the points cover as well to make them seal better
After this I pressed in new seals with a block of wood in a vice just like Jim's guide.
Engine Reassembled and ready to go in:
And here it is in the bike
Time for the beauty shot:
For the first start, I filled it with oil and kicked it until I saw oil on the rockers thru a valve cover.
Then I changed that oil, came out very good with some of the sealer I used (Since Permatex is anaerobic, I was pretty confident the sealer would dissolve into the oil even though I clearly put too much on the base gasket).
Added oil, started the bike and let it Idle for about 10/15 minutes. Dumped the oil, let the bike sit a day and torqued the head.
Dumped that oil, came out clear.
Added oil again, ran the bike for about 40 miles and dumped this oil. It was pretty metallic, but that's to be expected on a new engine (I hope):
Now the bike is waiting on new tires. Tried mounting the rear today, and I pinched the bloody tube... wasted a day, I'm bringing the wheels to a shop in a couple of days. Went with Shinko 712s in 100/90 19 for the front and 130/90 16 for the back. This is what was already on the bike but they were terribly old so decided to change them.
I have to give a big thanks to Jim for his guide without which I doubt I would have undertaken this, and all the other members being so kind and patient with the comments. This is truly a great community. I'm not out of the woods yet, as I will explain in the next post...