I always try to look at my blessings instead of the bad stuff, but the last week has been tough. I lost my job on Friday. Not really too worried about that, I'm employable and will be just fine, but it will certainly tighten the finances for the foreseeable future, then this.......

Pulled the car out for a drive and had issues getting it started. Starter kicked back and I had to charge the battery to get it to turn over, which is strange for my car. Got it started but it felt strange, not running crisp, almost as if it was missing on a cylinder. Shut it down and looked around: Immediately saw water dripping from the pan rail. Checked the dipstick... YUK! water in the oil. crawled under that car and was able to trace the source of the water, which now was showing oil in it on my garage floor, to the passenger side head gasket. Now realized the starter kicked back because it was likely partially hydro-locked.

A head gasket isnt that big of a deal, but in light of my employment situation, its going to be hard to justify buying car parts.

This is the first time I've dealt with a blown head gasket. I'm assuming that protocol would be to pull the motor and go through it stem to stern to make sure I remove any moisture , as well as check the bearings for any damage that could have resulted from water in the oil?.... Anything else I should be alert for? Also, As I replace the head gaskets, I'd like to gather as much compression as possible. It had 440-source .055 head gaskets and static compression worked out to be 10.3:1. I've never had detination issues. Pistons are flat top with 5cc reliefs at zero-deck. What thickness would be optimal and safe?

Thanks for any replies.