I've NEVER done a rebuild before, but I have two sets of SA 12A irons to use for rebuild. One from the 79 that came with the car, and one from an 80 I pulled from a junkyard.

I know, I know. Check the FSM. Well I did and it looks like it allows very LITTLE fretting or corrosion on the irons - .07 mm across the face of iron inboard of the inner water seal o-ring gasket, and 0.07 mm across the face of the seating surface for the water seal o-ring gasket, and 0.2 mm deep over the surface between the inner water seal o-ring and the water passages. But I'm of the opinion that all old SA engine irons that have been sitting will corrode and therefore be no good. The 79 irons are greater than 2.0 mm beyond the seating surface of the water jacket o-rings. The 80 irons, not so much.

The next rule: check the board for other posts with similar info. I did and it's confusing. I saw one post with irons that had been corroded to the point that there were deep grooves / troughs where the gaskets seat. That's OBVIOUSLY out of tolerance per the FSM, but other posters thought they were ok. Huh?!?

Well, on this set from the 80 it looks like the corrosion is limited to the seating surface of the o-rings for the water seals and does NOT extend beyond that. Is it normal for the irons to develop grooves where the water seal gaskets seat? Doesn't seem right, but I defer to expert opinions on this board. Aaron Cake - where are you????

Would ANYONE use these to do a rebuild? THANK YOU in advance for your opinion and/or comment. BTW, these irons looked PERFECT before I hit them with the scotchbrite pad on a drill like Aaron did in his video. Maybe I shouldn't have done that...