How do you get off old head gasket material?

[Tangent]

The car I pulled the head I'm going to put on mine off of must have never had the head pulled in its entire 218,000 mile life. Not only did it still have the regular hex-head bolts holding it on, but parts of the old head gasket are sticking to the head like grim death. What's the best way you've found to get this crap off without damaging the head. I'm thinking about using my dremel with a sandpaper flapper wheel at this point. A regular gasket scraper just isn't doing the trick...

[delatlanta1281]

so no razor blade then?

[kailuaboy]

razorblade!! and some patience

[StereoInstaller1]

there are also chemical strippers made just for that purpose. I ruined a head doing the razor blade thing...be careful!

Luke

[redhatpat]

Don't use a grinding tool, you'll get shit in the water jacket. (on edit, I see you're talking about the head, not the block. Still, you can easily fuck up aluminum, don't grind it off!)

Get a good scraping tool (aka a gasket scraper) and be patient.

[Hick]

hold the razor 90 degrees to the surface and scrape it back and forth. Keeps ya from gouging the alloy and makes a horrid noise but works!

[e304me]

have it resurfaced for $30

[Sean]

have it resurfaced for $30

That'd be the route I'd go. Might as well - check for cracks, warping, and resurface it. Shouldn't run more than $100 for all of that. Probably $50.

[89_325i]

I would use a scraper and some synthetic steel wool. Has worked well for me.

[misterlance]

scotch bright or brillo pad

[ryan_george]

Just take it to an automotive machine shop and have them clean it up. They'll hot tank it, and possibly resurface if you want. The head will look brand new.