The gasket I supposed was blown looked in decent enough shape (says the guy who's never done a head gasket job in his life before). There was some coolant puddled in the #3 cylinder when I popped the head off though but all this started with a problem in #1 when it started up (stayed cool on startup for a long time compared to the others).
The other symptoms included bubbling in the coolant when looking down the rad neck, oil floating on top in the coolant reservoir, it failed a combustion gas test in the coolant (as far as I understand can only happen when a head gasket leaks). Some white smoke but not billowing, mostly after hard throttle. And that slow tonwarm #1 header.
I noticed upon disassembly that the o-rings on the oil orifice were completely broken and brittle. Nothing else jumped out at me.
So on reassembly after the head surfaces are cleaned and new gaskets and o-rings are in, when I reinstall the cam into it's place then put the valve assembly on top of it and the pulley back on the cam, do I just put it on so it sits in the right position (UP and TDC marks) then bolt it back up? The engine is obviously still in TDC.
Old gasket...