The guy i bought it off of had it sitting with the valve cover off in his garage.

 

Then just take the valve cover off and clean that area. Theres really no need to take the whole head off.

 

Exactly

 

Are you talking about the valve cover gasket? That and the headgasket are two separate items.

 

head gasket. There are holes in the head where crap might have gotten into. I am removing the head and making sure there is nothing I missed. I have just had people say its fine to re use head gaskets in the past with cometic and what not.... but I have never once done it because I always thought it was pretty stupid. This engine has NEVER been run so thats why I thought it might be ok to retorque down.

What do people do when they torque down the head to check clearances on high compression motors? just use a junk head gasket? and if so wouldnt it still be somewhat out of specs due to the crush area on the gasket already being at its pre torqued spec?

 

Never ever reuse a head gasket. Doesn't matter what brand. OEM is the way to go though.

 

Everyone has already said this lol!