I want to give a beltaed thanks for everyone's advice here. I ended up pulling the engine and removing the heads. What I found was a bent pushrod on number 3 intake and gunk gunk gunk.

Also, can you guys tell me, do these head gaskets look normal? It seems to me the coolant channel openings are all closed and blocked! Are they supposed to be like that for some unfathomable reason?

Driver's Side
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_M...HeadGasket.jpg

Passenger's Side
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_M...HeadGasket.jpg

I'm now trying to figure out why the pushrod bent. Everything else appears ok (need to take my calipers and micrometers to it to make sure). What I am worried about is some funny business with the cooling system. The passenger side coolant drain plug was missing and in its place was some crusty white/yellow stuff. I am thinking that one or more of the coolant channels was blocked, the engine heated up locally and caused something to seize and bend the pushrod.

aj197816134: I'm not sure how long it was sitting, I wish I knew.

USArmyTaterness: Thanks for the tip on head studs, I will look into it. I had never heard of them until you mentioned it. I was planning on getting the whole felpro gasket set for this motor. Since it sat for a while it looks like almost every gasket is in need of replacement. I had also never heard of indexing plugs. I looked this up and it sounds pretty interesting. Thanks for this tip as well!