Got her fired up this morning, let it idle for 20 minutes without coolant cap to let the gasket swell. All appears good!

Wouldn't start at first; I forgot to reconnect a hose to the idle control valve. . Had a lifter tick for the first few minutes of running that eventually resolved itself. Overall runs much quieter than before the job.

I am still amazed at the cylinder wall crosshatching at 225K. It looked like new still!

Here's to another 225K of motoring.