Yep, came right off after I removed that brace. Kept figuring I'd just pivot it on the brace...but no dice. Took the bolt out of the brace and used the intake for leverage (thanks ackÂÂ

) and it popped right off.
So some more questions (remember I've NEVER done this before, so please bear with all the questions):
-Pistons 1 and 2 have LOTS of oil sludge crap on the tops of them. 3 and 4 are pretty clean but have oil all over them that came out of the head as I was removing it. Cleaning tips for these?
-Cleaning the gasket surfaces (intake, head, block, exhaust, etc) what do you guys use other than a scraper?
-Do you guys use anything to stick the gasket to the surface? I remember my buddy used something when we took the intake off a 350 but...well, I can't remember what it was.
Man, what a mess but ideally...I'm reassembling now, so I'm sorta at or past the half way mark.
