Opinions on this deck

I personally like the bare minimum material removal. If its in spec, keep it stock. The pitting around the water ports just happens and have seen much worse examples do fine. A sacrificial anode will help keep it minimal. But I do know what you mean seeing a fresh surface. Go with your gut. Basically, I am no help at all. Curious about the M S as well. Maybe S W.

Thanks, i brought it up with the shop as they were loading it up just to make sure it wasnt an oversight. I got a pretty abrupt "it's fine!" so i just thought i would double check with some opinions.

Fred ya ever notice how “sharp” some guys are in any given field (in your case the machinist) the “sharper” their replies when questioned?

redheadbronco, what would a sacrificial anode look like, a water heater sort of element insert in the water jacket?

My deck looked like this a few weeks ago. I wonder if automotive machinists get burned on decking diesel engine builds because of the piston protrusion and head gasket thickness thing, not knowing if pistons will contact the head or having a customer without an idea of what head gasket oversize to run for a decked block.

I was told deck was fine and I used a starrett straight edge (tilted a bit to keep the sharp edge on the surface) with the .003 and then .002 feeler gauge, a bit iffy getting to the .002 in a few places. .003 is spec as I understand. I tend to worry about stuff like this and also ruminate that I should have had it decked. Thing I'm worrying about now is I used a cummins head gasket that was 10 years old but still in the package. Won't know until down the road. FWIW

Correct, but the length/npt will depend your location(coolant inlet/outlet/head/block). Nothing wrong with OCD when it comes to your motor. Why I stated I am not much help. Go with your gut, it seems right for me most the time.