wont start- spark plug mangled!

[Paul in NZ]

No you misunderstand..we are just talking extremes..I would say though you must at least pull the head and investigate what has happened .I agree with the others you have at least one damaged valve and if one is damaged its likely the others are too....One possible explanation is that the timing belt has broken......or has been replaed b4 breaking but the valve timing was off and now there is not enough compresson to start due to a set of bent valves

[bigblue]

I know the timing belt currently isn't broken, although when i first installed the starter (and heard it crank for the 1st time) it sounded funny (like a broken belt) which made me check to see rocker movement (through the oil fill hole) when cranking.

So I guess I'll have to pull the head. Joy.

any wise words of advise? tricks? Anything to watch out for? How much is a head gasket kit? I want to keep this as cheap as possible