Successful task of removing all the studs on the heads, and got the exhaust manifold off after a bit of coercing. Cut off the bottom nuts, and used a rather nice Teng Tools chisel that split the remaning part of the nut off with ease, so for the remaining top nuts I just chiseled these off. Then lots of whacking with a hammer on wood to get the manifold to release. I wish I had chiseled off all the nuts on the manifold as when it came time to remove them, some had no thread left for putting on a nut, or double nutting. I found great success using the Milwaukee impact gun driving a nut on until the stud starts to rotate tighter, then whizz it off, this worked for all but two, where I had to use a die to thread the unthreaded part of the stud to get a nut on. One came off with the impact gun, the other I had to weld the nut on as it stripped the thread.
Intake studs were mostly okay to come out, a couple needed some convincing with a blowtorch
Got the head stripped down fully with all the valves, springs, spring seats etc removed and each in their own numbered box
Then into the ultrasonic bath for a nice clean so that I can get a good look at the valve seats for damage and cracking, and the good news is they all seem OK!
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Had a check of the exhaust valve guides, number 3 valve guide is a little on the looser side than I'd like, and 7&8 are both too tight which I didnt expect, so I might need to get the guides replaced which is a pain. I suppose I could ream the tighter ones out a bit maybe?