It's been a while, but here's the latest:
-Decided to go ahead and pull the head after I failed to remove the prechambers (they were stuck like crazy)
-Found evidence of coolant in #5 cylinder
-Head was pitted above every cylinder except #4, which was suspiciously clean
-Took head to machine shop: valve seats were pitted badly, 8 cracks were identified (appeared to be badly overheated at some point)
-Everything makes sense now (low power, smoke, rough idle, freaky compression readings).
Lesson learned for anyone looking for a reasonably priced wagon...
So I've been on the hunt for a new head. That has been interesting. Wagon heads are hard to come by, and my head is no good for a core. Metric motors is $2490 without a good core, but I know I'm getting the best product out there, and from a local business to boot. I also found a head out of state for $1600, reached out via email to make sure the ad was correct, which they confirmed, twice, only to find out several weeks later when they followed up with me out of the blue that the head they were advertising was for a sedan, even though the photos clearly showed a gear for the SLS pump drive. The price they quoted over email went up to $2400 when they realized the mistake, and they wouldn't honor the price. Can't blame them, but they didn't own it and that got under my skin. Their website has since been kind of updated, but the new photos still show a wagon head and part number, but now with a slightly lower price of $1500, and a disclaimer that the photos are stock and not representative of the actual product. Very confusing, but whatever
I found a head overseas for about $450, but international transactions wig me out a bit, especially when it is an unfamiliar marketplace (ie: NOT eBay). My guess is shipping will run another $250 at least. I may investigate anyways.
Alternately, I am considering flame spray welding or some other method of repairing my current head.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. It's a bummer of a situation, but here I am. I just want to hit the road again soon.