Thank you for the reply, sir. I'm half way into this YouTube video and I gather so far I can use: a Dremel (electric, don't have air) and 80 grit. I don't have the head off; it's sitting there on top of the block in the engine compartment. All I did was remove the cracked exhaust manifold. Now I need to clean -- as well as I can with the few assets I have -- the head surface that the manifold will butt up against (with the gasket in between, of course). Am i missing something? I live in the boonies (as we used to say in VN), in a town of 125, with not even a Taco Bell, with assets to match. What do I do to "put the odds in my favor" when I do this job?