It's not fun getting old meaning the memory is going. I am using the .028 Mr. Gasket Head gaskets. There is only one hole for water in the gasket. I'm talking about the holes in the end of the block and head. The gasket only has a hole in one end. I just don't remember which direction the water flows. I'm thinking that water goes from the pump to the block and then comes back through the hole in the rear of the head. PLEASE comments only if you are sure.

SB head gaskets are carbon copies of each other but the locating dowels on each deck at the front & the rear are offset so 1 gasket goes up & one goes down & the gasket blocks the large hole in the front of each deck (as it should be) otherwise alot of the water pumped in thru the 1" hole in the front of the block would just turn & go up to the intake to the thermostat without doing any cooling. The rear hole in each deck ain't covered. The water flows into the block from front to rear & along the way front to rear it goes up into the head from the head/deck holes alongside the head bolts on the inside closest to the valley & some goes around the cyls down toward the outside & then up into the head from the block/deck holes alongside the head bolts on the outside closest to the ex manifolds. Some goes straight back & up into the head thru the large hole you mentioned at the rear of the deck. All the collective coolant total in the head then flows toward the front of the head & exits the front water port on the head intake face next to the #1 & #2 intake port (on each side) inward toward the center to the intake/stat.

Thanks Robert! With the dowels being offset, I realized that the is no way to put the gasket on wrong, DUH!!!

Yeah I wasn't being patronizing it was just that I remembered that someone had once asked about if there was a problem with 1 gasket going up & 1 gasket going down & I'm bored & on a roll today