i just pulled my head off to upgrade some pistions and i see that the front waterjacket and the center waterjacket are being blocked by the headgasket. Is this correct??

That allows the water to run from one end of the head to the other...

I opt to drill a 3/16" hole in those spots in my Fel-Pro gasket so I don't get a "short cycle" of water if they were fully open, but allow some water to move through trying to keep the middle cylinders and chambers somewhat even with the ends of the block...

-D.Idiot

The factory designed the bulk of the coolant flow into the head to come from the two large holes at the back of the block. The rest of the coolant entering the head comes through 6 holes one under each exhaust port. If the large hole at the front of the block were open then coolant could bypass the block and head returning to the pump quite directly.

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Joshua

so is it a good idea to drill through the gasket for better flow or block up the head and block holes?

Don't modify the gasket. The holes are there primarily to allow air to escape when filling the cooling system. Enlarging the holes will result in the rear cylinders overheating (while the temperature gauge falsely indicates that temperature is normal).

Ken

For me, it is common practice to tap-out and install pipe plugs into these 2 holes... especially the front one.
This is most important when I plan to run the steel shim head gasket because those can rot-out at these openings and cause the overheating already discribed.
DD