Head gasket is removed. Head has not been cleaned.

According to Elderbrock the intake side cooling of the bore is acheived thru the steam holes (1/8 holes in the block) and the triangle ports located at the 5 o'clock in the above pic. I think most of the cooling is done on the exhaust side of the block. The intake side moves some coolant but more important it vents the cylinder bores intake side of trapped air.

Thanks for the replies.