Head Gasket surfaces

[pgriffith]

How clean do these have to be? Does anyone have a picture of a clean head gasket surface? what is acceptable?

I have removed all the gasket but I still see imprints and such of where the gasket used to be. I cant tell if its gasket or not. The surface feels really smooth. But I do also have some rust spots towards the bottom of where the gasket was. What is the best way to get these rust spots down smooth? I was told a emry cloth will work. And would it be a good Idea to use a reconditioning disc on the top of the piston to clean off all the rust?

[Dominic]

Don't worry about cleaning the pistons, but you need to clean the headgasket surface *as best as you can* to get it to fit snugly and not blow.

I recommend emory cloth to lightly sand down all the stuff that is on there. You don't want a blown headgasket 1500 miles from now.