Club 80-90 Forums

I'm about to attempt to take off the cylinder head on the AAZ engine in my van. It overheated and needs a gasket replacement- I hope that is all- as well as a skim and crack test of course. The fear is that it could be worse and i'll have to get a recon head or whatever.
Anyway, I picked up a Haynes manual a few years back for a Golf TD 1996 in case I ever needed to do any work on the engine...the time has come! I've never done anything this big to be honest so i'm a bit apprehensive but have enough confidence to do it, with help from the internet and the manual too. Obviously I'm trying to cut the costs and save some money from the £600 quote to do the job. It's also a personal journey and a learning experience- I really want to see the state of the head and take it to a machinist myself. However, at that point I'm going to ask my mechanic to refit- mostly because of time constraints.
Does anyone have any advice/pointers/important things to do or not do before I start? Any help is much appreciated it!

Check the head is straight yourself, as said before diesel heads shouldn't be skimmed. Small cracks are ok.

Cheers for the info. Yes a few have said they shouldn't be skimmed but I know it's been done without any problem- obviously not taking too much off.
One question was whether I need to set 1st cylinder to TDC before taking the head off??