Valve cover, valves, chain stretch--240D

[gmpalmer]

Hi folks!

I've got the time and money now to properly work on my WVO 240D.

I will be replacing the radiator and adding necessary additional WVO heat as soon as the parts are delivered to my door.

It was recommended back in my follow-up thread that I:

check the valves

check the timing chain stretch

and replace the leaky valve gasket since i have to replace the gasket whenever I check it anyway.

So I have some questions:

1: I need special parts to do this. What are they and what's the best place to buy them?

2: Is checking the timing chain stretch for the 240D the same as for the 300SD listed here?

3: Is there a good blow-by-blow on checking the valves?

4: What does checking the valves mean/do?

5: How long should all this take? There's an awfully important football game on this weekend.