[ROVERNET - UK] De-coking a rover V8

[Gavin.Walker at csiro.au]

Hi,
  Last year a stuck inlet valve bent a pushrod 45deg.  I have finally
taken the heads off.  All the valves appear straight.  One valve guide
on the other head has dropped and cracked but the valve seems ok.  Some
of the exhaust valves are a little stiff in the last few mm of movement
but I expect that'll disappear when I clean them up.

The carbon is really thick on both the heads and the pistons.  What the
best way of cleaning this up?  

The head gaskets show signs of cylinder leakage between the cylinders
and into the valley.  Heads and block, however, are flat within 0.05mm.
Don't know what's going on there.

Gavin Walker
Canberra, Australia