Replacing the Head Gasket on an '88 Milano

[Kevin.FILLIP@xxxxxx]

     Well, the Grinch decided to pay me an early visit this holiday season 
     in the form of a blown head gasket on my recently purchased '88 Milano 
     Platinum. After much crying and gnashing of teeth, I of course called 
     my local Alfa repair shop for an estimate on the cost of redoing the 
     head, then quickly headed for the 20 year old Glenlivet after hearing 
     the rough quote for this work. Now being that Christmas is just around 
     the corner I weighed the relative benefits of paying for the repairs 
     to my Milano in lieu of actually buying my wife presents. Knowing how 
     much I love my Alfas I figured the good woman would of course 
     understand. However, after quaffing even more Glenlivet and struggling 
     with this momentous decision, I quickly concluded that there is a 
     decided risk to having once shown my better half how to load and fire 
     the several handguns which I own. With the bitter truth staring me in 
     the face (as opposed to a loaded 45) and quickly running out of 
     scotch, I came to the conclusion that this is perhaps a job that I can 
     (gulp) do myself. And so my friends, I'm looking for any help, advice 
     etc. which anyone can offer me this holiday season as to the relative 
     difficulty of performing this job as well as the proper procedures. In 
     particular, I'm looking for any tips on making this job easier as well 
     as recommendations on what type of gasket sealant to use etc. There is 
     a local machine shop which can plane the head for me and I figure that 
     I should also install new valve seals and guides while the head is 
     off. Feel free to respond off digest.
     
     Happy Holidays
     
     Kevin Fillip
     Dallas, Tejas (where's the snow ?)
     
     '91 Spider
     '91 164
     '88 Milano (Sick)

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