The coolant passages look like that when someone runs straight water in the cooling system. It's pretty normal. As far as the balance shafts go, if it's gonna be a near stock rebuild I would run them. For a built motor I remove the shafts and have the rotating assembly balanced.
Tony Jacob thanks for the input! Yeah motor is going to be stock bottom end and in the future some mild cams, probably going to go for 400-450 in the future and see how long the motor lasts then fully build the next motor I get.
removing the balance shaft is a gamble. People say to do it and some say not to. I didn't and it snapped at 25 psi on a HX40. it took out my timing belt and bent 5-6 valves.
