Success! The rain stopped long enough today for me to get the right hand cylinder head off the V8 (5/8" walled socket and a long extension did the trick with the baulky head bolts). Cylinder number two had about an inch of water/anti freeze mix in it but I could see no sign of a gasket failure - should I have?? Anyways - valley gasket had also gone and there were substantial amounts of that lovely mayonaisse like water and oil emulsion under the gasket and under the rocker cover. I've cleaned all this up but the question is how to get the stuff out of the rest of the engine - I have a plentiful supply of oil filters and oil standing by but would welcome advice on how to go about it.
Graeme