The job is more muscle work than anything else.
If you've got to pull the head, you may as well service the entire top end - manifold gasket (there's only one,) fuel rail, fuel rail quick-connects, throttle body gasket, and the like. Get the "head set," since it will have everything from the head gasket UP in the box.
I've covered this in detail a few times for various subjects - try looking for my posts on it. If you don't find any, PM me - but having a manual (it's not a Haynes, is it?) should tell you everything you really need to know - my additions are merely pointers from experience (having done this a couple of times...)
If you have a Haynes, go buy a Chilton's right now! If you have a Chiltons, start checking ebay for a 1994FSM (yes, I've got one. No, you can't have it...) but there's less of a hurry. The FSM will cover things much more in-depth than Chiltons or Haynes, and if you plan on keeping this for any length of time, you're going to be glad you got it.
Check your manual torque specs against the charts on my site (link in sig,) since mine are all culled from FSMs - I've got Chilton's and Haynes - the Haynes is doing duty to even up that workbench I haven't gotten around to making a new leg for just yet, and the 1994 FSM is twice as thick as the Chiltons - which covers about ten years of XJ. That should tell you the level of detail it covers...
Before you get started, check the head bolt heads for paint marks - if you see any, get new ones! If you think they had paint on them, but it wore off, get new ones! The AMC242 head bolts are good for two torque cycles before they yield, and they're supposed to be painted when removed the first time. Snapping off a head bolt is a royal PITA to fix, believe me (I've had to do it for a couple of other people...)
5-90
