The current configuration was purchased from, and installed by Jegs in 1990. I do not believe the engine was torn apart since then. I would assume that Jegs put it together correctly since it had no issues for over 27 years {13000 miles}. The car sat a lot for 2 to 3 years before I got it. The gasket may have just failed due to non use.I suspect that the head gasket is the problem. If the engine has no overheated there is no reason for the head to be cracked or warped unless it was improperly installed. Head gaskets are a known problem when a aluminum head with a different expansion and contraction rates than than the cast iron block if the wrong head gasket is used. There are composite head gaskets that are recommended for the aluminum heads on a cast iron block