Would anyone know of a good and clean way to remove the pieces of the gasket that is stuck on the head? When I removed the gasket it broke in half and some broke of the gasket itself sticking on the head. Dish scrubbing pad or metal pad I would suppose?

 

You can buy tools specifically made for safely scraping off gasket material from the auto parts store. Otherwise just use anything that won't gouge the aluminum, I would be careful of using anything too abrasive... a plastic paint scraper maybe?

 

Is it okay if I see rust spots on the cam lobes? How should I care for this or should it be something to not worry to much about? Also, can I just start the car after putting everything back or does it need to be place on TDC?

 

Bump. Can someone help me with the rust question? Will it be okay to still use it? I used a shirt and wipesd the oil away.

 

is the rust about where the oil cap sits? intake cam, towards the back?

 

the rust was found on the intakes cam lobe either 2 or 3rd clyinder. The rust appeared after the first full week of leaving the VC off and covering it with just a plain white tee. This will be the going on the 2nd week till I can get it put back together... (The car's also sitting outside Georgia's unperdicable weather.. rain.. sun.. cold.. hot... rain.. hot.. . haha.)

 

I'm assuming the rust is just a light layer like you sometimes get on the surface your brake rotors when you don't drive the car for a few days. If so, I wouldn't really worry about it much... maybe lightly polish the rust off and lightly coat the parts in oil prior to reassembly for peace of mind. You did not remove the camshafts or anything that would have upset the timing, so there is no need to set anything to TDC before restarting. Time to put it all back together and see how she is running!

 

Just put got done putting everything back and fired her up.. And everything sounded fine until the misfiring occurred again no CEL yet. I also heard some ticking so I may have to re-adjust again. I'm down to bent valves, dirty injectors, or coil

 

I would also be interested to find out the compression numbers...

 

I didn't do a proper test on the compression numbers as the engine was still cold.. But they ranged from 225psi to 240psi. I'm going to re-check the valve lash, warm the car up then re-test the compression. I also got my nephew to send me his extra injectors cause he was havig the same issue years ago and his turned out to be a bent valves due to the younger nephew over revving.