I am reassembling a 72 302 for my stang. I just noticed that the head gaskets that I have only have openings at the rear of the heads for the water ports... the water ports at the front are blocked off. Can anyone tell me if this is correct before I put this thing all back together?
The gasket should say "front" on them. Put that up front, even if you put the word "front" face down, and you will. With the head on, you should see a tab sticking out up front.
they are blocked off in front to force water thru the block and then up the rear of the engine to the heads. I had the same question a year ago when I saw that for the first time, thought the gaskets were wrong.