Well I made the valve spring compressor problem a little easier now that I'll be taking the head off. I wasn't paying attention and sure enough, removed one too many valve springs (on a cylinder that was at BDC). I couldn't believe I was so stupid, but sure enough, the valve has dissapeared into the cylinder. So now I've got most everything disconnected from the head except the intake manifold. Any easy way to take that off? I can't get to those bolts on the bottom side of it. Also, any other routine maintenance I should perform since I'm going this far? I figure I'll at least replace the head gasket. Would replacing the piston rings be much more trouble? The purpose of all this was to fix my burning oil problem and I'm pretty sure it is the valve seals, but I'll be pretty upset if it's coming from the rings. Previous compression test worked out ok. Cylinder 4 definitely has some black gunk in it. The others (pistons) look somewhat shiney still. Any suggestions welcome.