Sounds like a good plan. I might also want to do a leak down test as well to make sure that the piston rings still hold compression well. I did not do this on my engine yet but I want to before I have to winterize it. My regular compression test results were very good, like a new engine.
How did SK wind up working out for you? Was the work good/reasonable price wise? I was happy with the price I got my re-man heads for, a lot less than you'd pay for either Mercruiser or Sierra re-man heads, more than some of the stuff floating around on the 'net or ebay, but at least have a one year warrantee. $275 each for reman marine 4.3 heads. Plus Kevin gave me a lot of good advise on prepping parts, cleaning, etc. I picked up a Marine 4.3 non vortec intake manifold as a spare because sometimes they rot out right under the thermostat. My original one is still good but these are hard to find, so for $150 I got a nice one off of ebay. The Barr marine exhaust system I installed fit perfect, the only extra expense was the 90* elbow adaptors I had to get from Volvo. Pricey but everything lines up perfect like it was built that way. I like the Barr stuff because it is cast in USA. Quality appears very good.
