Well thanks for the encouragement guys. I had to rant though.
But let me ask this. It seems the people that have had the smoke screen issues have all had their check valves off. I know mine is on. So is there any chance that I might be OK with the drain hole like it is? I have an extra head gasket (did not like how it looked & bought the Felpro thinking it was a better brand ironically.)
Taking the head off is really not an option
OH, AND THE O-RING IS LEAKING AGAIN!!! The larger one I got was too big so I tried using one the same size as the old one. Again a small leak
Argh.