And I went ahead and 'fixed' my head. Im out on a limb here so appreciate comments/opinions. The saying 'he knows just enough to get into trouble' has crossed my mind....
At the last minute decided to change the original design and go with aluminum insert.
Set the head up on the CNC and dialed in on the valve seats to get exact positions. Drew up the valve seats and a peanut like profile between them to cut and remove the crack. The idea is to remove the crack completely from the casting and then fill with a mechanically interlocking and interference fit.
I ground a 1/4" dia cutter to an approx 1 degree negative angle so that both the hole and insert will interlock kind of like a dove tail joint, only about 10-12 thou difference from top to bottom but enough to ensure it can not fall out. From the ground face, I milled 0.300" depth.
Idea behind the peanut shape is to mechanically hold the casting in the axis it was cracking (either stresses are greatest here or casting is simply weakest at this point). The profile is about .010" wider in the bottom than at the top.
And the insert. I last minute decision went with 7075 aluminum vs steel. My thinking is the 7075 is as strong or better than many steels, but greater thermal expansion rate than steel. This allows insertion (by freezing the aluminum and heating the head) and double ensures interference fit as when at operating temperature the aluminum will grow more than the hole it is in.
The top face here is .010" wider as it is cut with the same endmill and will become the bottom of the insert. The backing is left for strength and rigidity for insertion and will be milled off after.
I froze the aluminum in a freezer, and heated the head to about 200F. Set it up in a big ass vice and gave it a squeeze. Have to go quick before the heat transfers! Nice and snug.... And then back in the mill to remove the backing material (I need to grab a smaller piece of scrap next time).
I then peaned the cast iron to create even more interference shoulder (triple insurance)and hand ground the curve between valves to match the original profile (could still use more polishing). This still needs to be surface ground so as to clean up this face and peaned peaks.
And then I decided I would not put this on my rebuilt bottom end.
And my concerns are the aluminum is nearly (and possibly directly) touching the valve seats in one location only and thus creating a localized thermal sink. I'm not concerned of my insert falling out, but that the valve seats may crack over repetitive thermal cycling/uneven heating.
The other thing I was thinking is that my aluminum insert may stress the cast iron negatively by growing mainly on its long axis, actually pushing the casting apart where the cracks were originally.
What do you guys think? Would you put it on your engine?
So I bought a new head, straight from China on aliexpress. 420USD delivered so will be an awesome deal if it shows in reasonable time and good quality. My backup plan is to repeat this procedure, except stay with my original plan this time. Using steel not aluminum, and bore and replace both valve seats as part of the insert.