well it turns out im going to replace head & cover , scored up journal on #1 intake
Q= my clymers book says to replace washers on head and cover,
if they look good cant i just reuse them? i have a snap on torque
wrench ,this is a big money fix trying to save money but fix right
every thread with checking valves they dont say they put new washers on
Q=how about gaskets? if i had a crap load of money i would replace all
but been laid off since november,doing side jobs god help this economy!!!!
can i reuse old ones if they look good?

 

You definitely don't want to re-use the head gasket - ever. So considering your overall budget, your new (used) head is the most expensive, followed by the head gasket. Compared to that, the washers and the cct gasket are relatively low priced. My thought on that is that it's better to do it right the first time, rather than have to back & do it again and possibly cause further damage. imho Although I agree with you about the washers, I've never heard it mentioned to use new ones either.

 

Yeah, never reuse a head gasket. The valve cover gasket is an O-ring, so I think its re-usable. Basically, any gasket that is an O-ring can be used again, but only if its truely ok. The only way to gaurantee the o-ring is going to seal properly is to replace it with a new one, but as long as its good, I would reuse it.

I think the reason for replacing the washers is they must some sort of a crush washer. Those are only good for one time use. It doesnt mean that you absolutely can't re-use them, it just means that the springback is gone and they wont hold like they did when new. It is a bit odd though, normally, they want the bolts replaced, not the washers.