So after taking in that the most pain in the **** plug hole had been stripped, I've decided I'm going to pull the heads for the repairs. For a stripped plug hole, is there a special helicoil for our aluminum heads?

And since I have the heads off, what other machining/parts should I do when I have it out? I thought of getting some 1.6 rr's and some porting/polishing done, though I'm trying to keep my total budget under ~$500. I thought of a cam, but my engine has 180k on it and I'm not too comfortable with slipping a cam in.

And before I start shredding my engine, is it even possible to remove the heads without taking the engine out? Or more precisely, any words of wisdom from those that went before me?