Took head off, no sign of leak between #2 #3

As bg suggests, there are other suspects for low power. And while your dry compression readings are not in the "braggin" range, the're marginally acceptable and I've known of lots worse N's working well with 'em.

When you did your "wet" test, how much oil did you squirt in you sparkplug hole, doesn't take a lot, about 2 squirts. The reason I comment is, I've never seen compression that high on N's before (185). New N's compression is about 120.

Well look at it this way, knowing that you have a new headgasket, gotta give you a cheap ease of mind. And no, I really don't think you need an "overhaul" yet..... ...Dell

Hope ya find your problem. It's always good to start with the simple fixes and then continue to the hard stuff when trying to find answers to your problems. Hope you didn't have to do all this work for nothing.

Good luck,
Tyman

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ROFL
Hey, it's Friday !(-:

later"Belch"dave

I sort of recognize this slippery slope I'm on. I started our old house renovation project the same way("let's just put a little addition on over here and a few new windows in there...."). What started out as a 100 year old tired farm house now looks like a new farm house. I completely stripped out most interior or at least resurfaced it, new siding, new roof, new porch, added a front door, on and on. We did manage to keep the feel of the old house though. I can't really go down that path with this 50 year old tractor just yet. Maybe in a few years.

You might consider some valve grinding compound and lapping the exhaust valve seats. Intakes never burn.

Ya have to pull the valve stem keepers and take the spring pressure off so you can rotate the valves with a rubber vacuum chuck on the end of a stick. Usually, the only people that do that are hotrodders trying to get the last hp down the track.

Myself, I probably wouldn't..... ...Dell

That is if you have the manifold off...