You could get some 600 grit emery cloth and a flat sanding block and go over the deck surface. Just make sure you seal the cylinders up.

What sutphen 30 said. I just hang the gasket and spray it down. Let it sit to tack up.
Shake the can up good and keep shaking.

I ordered some of the FelPro head gaskets. I hate to waste money but it seems that everyone has had no issues with them. Assembly should be done this week just as soon as I get the head gaskets balancer and push rods. I disassembled 2 cylinders of head and all the guides were finished nicely. I should have checked them all.
i ordered some of Jegs dowels, installed them and the heads wouldn’t go down. The dowels were.007 wider than the head! I taped the whole deck and dremeled them down. Got the high volume pump installed, customized the pick up and welded it to the pump.
Thanks for the help

Just so you know, that meant that the holes in the heads were too small, not the dowels too big lol. If the dowels fit in the block then they were the correct size.

the chinese drill is a little worn out.

its funny, i just had the exact opposite with a brand new set of pro 1s. loose as a goose.

Should I do anything about the discrepancy between the water hole in the block and the head gasket. The old head gasket, the cometic, and the new FelPro are all mismatched the same way?

what is the gasket part number? What block mk4?

Please post a picture of front and rear of gasket, gasket installed to the block.

Those ProMaxx heads sound pretty interesting.
I have a pair of 482cid BBC NA engines in a heavy 40' Hustler Fiore. I wasn't initially intending to put that those small of a CID in my big heavy boat, They only made 510hp @5000rpm on the dyno with GM Rectangle port cast iron heads with some clean up and blending of all the ports.
I also had the cylinder bores "bore notched" on both intake and exhaust sides of the cylinders to unshroud the valves for better breathing/flow for the 4.25" bore size, but the bore notching creates a drop in my compression ratio.
I cannot remember if the pistons are a true Flat Top or maybe have a slight dome. I would have to wait until I would remove the GM heads and look and see what I have as far as my pistons go and see how far they sit in the hole at TDC.
I think the hydraulic roller Cams may be the old Merc 502cid/HP500 cams, but I am Not exactly sure, but the engines only make peak power up to 5000rpm according to the dyno @32° with only a stock Merc Thunderbolt distributor and stock Merc/Holley 800cfm carbs.
I am kinda thinking that my Comp Ratio may be as low as 8.0 to 8.6 ratio which is a bit low.
So, I thought that maybe the ProMaxx heads would be a good solution to my issue especially with their 110cc combustion chamber size.
I am only looking for a little more KICK in power to maybe about 580-600hp while retaining the same Cams and I thought I could accomplish this without swapping out the Cams.
Also, I want to try and avoid putting to much strain on my XR Bravo drives and I thought that perhaps the ProMaxx 290cc head would be the ticket. I've been watching Eric Weingartner's videos and doing a lot of research on them.
I am wondering what you guys think or would appreciate any input/feedback.
Thanks 👍 🇺🇲