After removing the head (which seems okay), we put it back on and torqued it down--just to see if the blockage reappeared. It did not. So, the mysterious blockage is gone, and we're debating what to do next. Options include having the head gone through, swap in a used head, swap in a used engine, or go through both the head and the bottom end. Whatever we do, at least we have a new cooling system ready.

While our car was offline, there were two highlights--doing the design for Rob Siegel's book "Ran When Parked" (we had visited him in Louisville when he worked on "Louie"), and tracking Jason Gipson's '75 Verona build. Many thanks to Jason for letting us borrow the Beer Snob for our trip to The Vintage!