are they a necessity I have notice mine doesnt have any in it anymore, and was woundering the affects if any that may occur from this

 

Dowels are used to align something consistantly in the same location. only realying on the headstuds will allow you to be off as much as the clearance for the headstuds. i would pick up some they can't be much. this is from a mold building point of view. unrelated but we use dowels for the same principle. A good example is we clear thru holes a 1/32" for socket head cap screws. which means theoretically if you're only locating 2 objects with a bolt (headstud) it could be off in the neighborhood of .015 in any direction.

 

yeah thats what i was thinking as well i just recently split the block and head to find this to be so I was a little confused about it

 

on the the stock or built one that blew up?

 

head has always been the same head but yeah the built one

 

wonder if that contributed to wha happened with it?

 

wouldnt think so my piston nevr slapped the chamber the head is perfect still