What harm would closing them up do ? Serious question as we got a gasket that doesnt go down under them and would release water. Thats why i ask.

I have always taped them out and pluged with a grub screw etc.also use a good locktight.
Never had a negative issue yet and you can use either manifold gasket.
Those water galleries are a pain in the bum and leak more often than not,especially now genuine gaskets are all but impossible to procure.

Andy,the gasket your've got is for the A14 non manifold cooled head,just run a tap into the gallery with lots of grease on it(to catch the fillings)and put some screws in.
Works a treat

It only lets water flow through the standard manifold, so that on cold days the car runs better, but also to help with fuel vaporisation. It won;t do any harm closing them up, water will circulate as usual through the rest of the head...

O.K, So dont hate me not meaning to HiJack the thread. Can i still run the water hose from the side pipe to the manifold or do i plug that off to ?

was lookkin at some 1000 heads and some random manifoids i had laying around and none have the holes , but this head was working fine before with the holes left un filled just the gx manifoild must seal it up :)

Yeah its a oval port thing, my A15 had em till i plugged em!

Only the later oval ports had this. The original A14 heads used a dry manifold.

The easiest solution is to get the correct gasket.

<-- wicky clicky, search for cylinder head

Earlier engines with round ports & some A14 engines used a 'hot spot' to heat the inlet manifold. This is where the inlet manifold & the exhaust manifold are bolted together below the carb & it's done to help ensure that the liquid fuel droplets are converted to a gas, which burns & makes power. Liquid fuel does not burn, so manifold heat does the trick.

In later engines the lower part of the intake runner is 'water heated' & since any fuel in liquid form will run to the bottom of the intake runner, then this is all that's needed.
In this instance, both manifolds are separate.

This upgrade was required to cut down on the unburned hydrocarbons at the tailpipe. This is simply unburned fuel & if it's unburned, then it isn't making power. The unburned fuel is also diluting your oil & washing the lubrication from your cylinder walls.

The water heated manifold is more efficient at 'boiling' the liquid fuel & converting it to a gas, & this means that leaner mixtures can be run & still produce the same power. The upside is that emissions are reduced & fuel mileage is improved. [Thats $$$ back in your pocket.]

If your intake manifold is not of the water heated type & the head has these holes, then the best bet is to plug them & to close off the fitting on the coolant pipe at the water pump where the water from the front of the manifold is drawn back into the water pump. [when fitted]

If you are running a street engine with the original water heated inlet manifold, then my recomendation is to retain it in full working order for better cold weather operation, better fuel mileage, even with a downdraught Weber on it, & better driveability at low speeds in traffic.
In fact, better engine operation all round.

cheers man :)

being a fully ported head from jts ( a15) with twin sidedraft webers mount'd to a gx manifoild i have no need / cant use
looks like plug em up