So I'm in the process of replacing the head gasket of a soon to be installed 8v motor into my Samurai. In preparation for putting the head back on, I fitted the head gasket up and noticed that a lot of the holes in the HG do not match the block and head. This IS the correct HG and it fits the dowels and oil passages properly.

So, I was thinking, would it cause any problems if I were to 'port match' my head gasket to the coolant passages? Its a non-metallic head gasket so it shouldn't be hard with a die grinder to open them up.

i know on some motors they are purposly blocked off, so i would make sure it is ok before you do match them.

Yeah, I figured they were blocked for a reason, and the old head gasket was an exact match for the new one. Hell, if it blows I rebuild one of the other motors in my shed:D

If the new gasket matches the old one I would leave it alone