Mine had a pretty good ridge, but I forged ahead and put it together. It ran before, it will run again. I am surprised mine didn't smoke like a freight train before, every pair of oil rings had the gaps lined up Great 1970 QC there, it was a factory engine, never cracked. I did a 318 in '90 for my Barracuda that was UGLY (I'm talkin' a couple pitted cyls ugly) and it ran really good. Slap it together and run it.
Travis..