Blocked off coolant passages on 530 head

I was stripping down the 530 head of my '89 245 GLT (B230E) last night and noticed a few of the head-to-block coolant passages were blocked. I thought they were just gunged up but after trying to clear them out I found they seem to have been brazed/welded up? Its two of the holes on number 1 cylinder and one on number 3.

I've heard of this being done on Pinto's before to help re-direct coolant flow across the whole head. But would this have been done by volvo or has my engine already had some work done?

It's normal, they are not blocked up. it's meant to be like that. The coolant corrodes the head and makes it look like they are gunked up/brazed/welded up.

The head gasket has holes for other heads where your head has no holes

Unless im mistaken, didnt group A engines have those holes?

I believe this is one of Peter's heads, heavily modified of course, but with unmodified water ports:


And the Erland head with welded/drilled water ports. The oversize holes were welded and drilled to the size of the gasket, and the holes that were not there at all were drilled.