well, thanks to the encouragement and confidence received from this community, i have successfully removed and installed the head on my 1985 300TD. thank you to everyone for the time, energy, and effort in helping me.
just one last thing. Ive been driving around town and on freeway for two days now, close to 200 miles. totally trouble free. no smoking, good acceleration, good overall pickup and performance. couldn't be happier. with that being said, the temp gauge, opposite the oil pressure gauge hasn't read past 40, the number on the bottom. i know the gauge is hooked up. everything else work great. is there any danger in continuing to drive it like this?
any help would be greatly appreciated.