I have removed the cylinder head as gasket was leaking , one looks with bits of carbon and soot , can I safely clean the head while I wait for parts to arrive , what do I use to clean it ???
The actual head or the exhaust valves?
You could have a gentle go at it with a soft (wooden) scraper but to be honest, unless it's really bad, I'd leave it. You can easily create more problems than you solve. If it worked fine before I wouldn't fix what ain't broke
Those were my first thoughts , but just checking to see if anything needed a quick clean before I put all back together , had been leaking for 2 years but got worse recently . Thankyou .