A couple years ago I built a new short block, 307 pistons, mild cam, etc. Block had a clean up pass but was not zero decked.
Just picked up a rebuilt head that had a very light cut to clean it up.
Neither of these had anything above and beyond standard machine shop work, ie nothing specific on the head gasket surface.
Can / should I run MLS head gasket? Now that one of our inline boosters has them available! I've heard they are much more resistant to failure which the 4 bolt head pattern and increased CR makes me a little leery of. If I did that I would use studs. Other option is reuse head bolts and run a conventional gasket (have McCord, Victor, Detroit, and Fel-pro hanging around the shed).
Input / opinion?
