The head is no problem at all and the block can be welded with nickel rod. The guy that fixed mine welded it up in the car after I wrapped keo wool in the cylinders and laid fire proof fiberglass cloth on the deck surface. He said he would charge me 100.00 for both the head and block but wanted to know how I would surface the block after welding it up. I told him you could carefully file it down taking your time and get it with in .004 and the gasket would seal. The next day he called and not only was it welded he said he had to try filing it down by hand. It was under .003 across the weld and he was very happy. He ended up charging me 80.00 because he said he learned something. Burnt it up on a Sunday,ready to go again on Thursday thanks to his ability. I still have the block if you need pictures of this 440 block I still have it and it never blew a head gasket again.