Coolant near BB head locating pin?

Ive been getting a small coolant bubble near the exterior head locating pin on the number 1 cylinder on a stockish 383. I have re gasketed twice with steel shim gaskets. First time with spray sealer which was a noticeable leak. Second time with no sealer and better results with only a tiny coolant bubble. Never enough to even drip. I get the bubble on startup cold or warm, radiator cap on or off no change. I have never over heated it. Stock machined decks and heads So my question is, How close is this locator pin to coolant?

Attached picture shows area of leak but Im not sure if leak is head side or block side.
Im willing to mag and machine just looking for direction on why the leak is in this spot.
Thanks guys.

Just guessing here, but it looks like the surfaces are too course for a steel gasket. I know they all say to use nothing on the gaskets, but even with a near mirror finish, I use RVT around all water passages, block side, and head side. Not a ton, just thinly wiped with my finger around them all. Some of those lines I see on the picture, look like they would channel water to the outside of the block.

Another very outside chance is check the depth of your dowel pin hole in the head against the height of it in the block to make sure it's not resting on the dowel. Set the bare head on the block and make sure it doesn't hold the head up.

I did double check dowel pin length and its good. I do see what you are saying with the cut of the deck...

Deck surfaces can be really marginal in terms of flatness/ finish. I think that's why all the stock replacement head gaskets are not steel shim. I would think that a normal replacement gasket would seal right up.

You are probably right on using a better gasket but I hate to lose the compression points. I do like the sound of trying rtv around the cooling ports....

I would suggest a composite gasket.
Sealer may work with the steel shim, but you’re probably getting tired of pulling the head.

Id do it once again if the rtv trick might work. CR is measured low so it would be great to keep the shim gasket.

To answer your question........ the small hole to the right of the dowel pin hole in your first pic is a coolant hole.

If the leak is as minor as you say, I can’t imagine that a dose of stop leak wouldn’t solve it.

As for the composition gasket......... mill the heads .020 and use a Fel-Pro 8519 gasket, and you won’t lose any compression...... as well as have a flatter head with a better surface finish(if done on good equipment).

Thanks for all the advice. Im going to disassemble it and mill the heads and use a composite gasket.
Do the dowel pins go all the way into the water jacket on the block?

Not any of the ones I have seen.

Not on any early (pre 1990) Mopar V8 blocks I've seen or heard of