Boxster 3.2 possible head gasket issue?

[x2nervisx]

Hello. New Boxster owner here. I just purchased a 2000 Boxster S 6 Speed with 76,000 miles for $1000. The car is in overall good shape. However I purchased it with the engine and transmission already out of the car. The previous owner had the whole motor and tranny taken out because it had engine issues so he was going to do an LS1 swap 😳. The shop that pulled out the motor said the engine probably needed a head gasket. Anyways the car sat for a while and the previous owner gave up the project so I ended up buying the car.

My questions are how do I check to see if it’s actually the head gasket without pulling the heads off and not being able to run the engine? I can’t do a compression test and I can’t acually verify if the motor was blowing smoke. Is there any tests I can do while on the engine stand? I know I could look in each cylinder to see if any them looks steamed cleaned. Anything else? I’ve searched for threads on this forum regarding head gasket issues and a lot of people have said that head gasket issues are rare and are misdiagnosed. So I’m hoping that’s is the case with this motor.