That's a good point about the dowels, I would prefer to retain some sort of positive location on the head if I were playing with that, so I wouldn't want to omit them from a runnable engine.
However, if one were to plug those holes and re-drill them elsewhere, AAANNND deal with pushrod clearance is it possible to move the head over the 3/8" or so to center the valves over the bore without spraying water everywhere? (also without welding on the head or block)
I am asking as there appears to be an extra 1/8" of valve to bore clearance if they were centered, that could (maybe) get enough material to unshroud the valves without a bore relief.
