Wow your first heavy engine job. Do I here a big Grunt from the gallery. This is a right of passage, you are moving from tinker man to machanic. Go for it man, jump in with both feet and don't worry about those things that may go sprong and fly across the shop. The braggen rights alone are enough to make your freinds jelous.
Try this, go (when your wife ain't lookin) and get a large muffen pan from the kitchen. When you remove a bolt put it in the pan, put all the bolts for the part you remove in the same hole. Remember the order you use to fill the pan and when you put it back together reverse the order.
Scrape all gasket material from the surfaces you wish to reseal. While the head is off take it to a machine shop to have it checked for cracks, burned valves and flat surfaces. They can also remove broken bolts and surface your exhaust manifold.
When it runs again you'll be pumped. You can tell your frends when they ask "What ya been doing lately?" Your answer will be "I yanked the head off my truck and gave it a new gasket, checked and adjusted the valves (or ground the valves), tuned her up and changed the oil." "What about you?" Your freind will be impressed.
