Do both sides,
drain the radiator, pull the valve covers, intake, spark plugs, rocker arms and exhaust. Dont disassemble the rocker arms, pull them as a unit and lay inside a valve cover with the bolts still in it.
unbolt the head bolts and lift off.
I personally prefer the steel shim gaskets, but everyone will like something different..
If you run into trouble, I am pretty close by and can swing by.
One of the posters mentioned torching, that is when the lit gases travel from one cylinder to another and erode a portion of the block.