I can pull the pan in my car withe the motor still in the chassis, so I can still take a good look at the rod without pulling it. I'll lay a straight edge on the rod and measure deck clearances. I'm not a pro, but I'll be able to detect a bent rod.

Looked at the FP 8519PT; not comfortable with that. I can swing the cost of a decent gasket.

Wow, that's a super generous offer, Pete. I'd love to be able to show you what your motor can do, but I'll pass for a number of reasons. I don't want to break it.... I don't want to break my 8-3/4..... I don't want to change motors twice.

I'd really like to meet you someday, Pete. I'll PM you once I'm up and going again. Perhaps Pacific is about halfway between us???

So the autopsy is finally complete. I doesn't look like the head gasket was pinched into the chamber, but it was perilously close most everywhere, and ultimately, I think the bore of the gasket being too close to the chamber was the cause.
Pic #1: breech at the water jacket at roughly 4:00, #2 cylinder.
[img:left][/img]

Pic #2: deck surface shows the print of the gasket, and how close it was to the cylinder. I measured it at 4.40, bore on this 400 is 4.380. Too close! You can see the hot spot at about 5:00 here just below the jacket hole that failed.
[img:left][/img]

Pics 3 & 4: Plenty of water in the oil showed itself mostly in the valve covers and oil pan. The crankcase looks surprisingly clean, if not perfectly clean.
[img:left][/img]
[img:left][/img]

No other issues were found. Plan is to re-assemble with bigger bore, thinner crush head gaskets. Wish I could afford to do some headwork while it is apart, but I'm short on spending $$$ and just want to get it back together so I can get out at least a few more times this year.

Good luck with it... hope the assembly goes easy