Removal of cylinder heads

The cylinder heads, and the barrels, are held on by long studs from the block. There are eight nuts holding them.They should be loosened and undone in the same sequence as for tightening. Some of the studs will undo from the block and others will not. After removing all of the nuts we removed all the studs by using the 'double nut trick'.
I think the stud removal helps when removing the barrels.
The heads come off first and then remove the barrels. There is a plate under the barrels that clips off. The two barrels on each side are separate units.
The stud bolts hold the heads and the barrels and the pushrod tubes are clamped between the heads and the crankcase. Some tubes come away with the heads and and some stay in the crankcase.
The guide warns against turning the engine at this stage to prevent any damage.
The barrels were quite tight and the guide says tap lightly with a soft faced hammer. We used a block of wood and a hammer but did, unfortunately, damage one of the fins.
I don't think this is a disaster but should be avoided if possible.

Removal of rockers cover and rocker gear

The rocker covers are held on by a large spring clip. The clip is moved away and the covers come off easily.
There are two nuts holding the rocker gear. They are undone and the rocker gear slides off.

When the rocker gear is off the pushrods can be removed. It is suggested that these are numbered to be are assembled in their correct relative positions.

Removal of fuel pump and distributor

Two nuts hold the petrol pump. This is easily removed but there is a warning in the Guide I am using not to try and remove the bakelite stand or operating rod as they are fragile and may break. They suggest leaving them in until the engine is split.
There is one nut holding the distributor, in fact it holds the clamp to the block. We undid this and the clamp bolt but the distributor would not even turn let alone come out. Some sharp knocks with a piece of wood and hammer gradually prised the body upwards and out.

Cleaning engine

The engine was taken to a car wash/engine clean facility in Gravesend. Not sure if this is really for engines in-situ but quite effective. The engine was liberally painted with Gunk engine cleaner and left to stand whilst we had coffee. Anyway it worked quite well getting rid of most of the crud that had accumulated over many years.
We had also taken this opportunity to drain the engine oil and dispose of same at the local council dump.