Took advantage of a nice morning out. Did a thorough block cleaning, masking, and paint.
Pre-bath that the machine shop did for me:
As received from the shop post-cleaning. On the stand ready for a good stiff scrub. I bought a set of long engine block brushes off Amazon (Speedway brand), hot soapy water, scrubbed every single oil passage thoroughly, and ran the pressure washer on the water passages aggressively. Likewise, I flushed a bunch of brake cleaner along with an air nozzle on the tensioner oil orifice, and upper-block orifice as well.
Masked and tossed the old empty oil cleaner on to keep paint out of places...
Duplo "GM Blue" color. It'll work, though not quite authentice. Thee good coats.
Tomorrow, after giving the paint a day to cure, I'll be putting the new freeze plugs in, and installing the crank/bearings.
I picked up the rebuilt head and the machine shop appears to have done a good job. Long term, the hold up will be the additional piston rings I had to order...they are still a few weeks out.