I'm back! Thanks to WWDiesel for fixing my account issues so I can log in again.
After considering everyone's advice, and reading through Captain Dean's excellent thread (thanks turblesdiesel), I'm pulling my engine and cleaning all the oil passages as thoroughly as I can, and maybe renewing the bearings while I'm in there, especially since my EGR pipe looks like this:
The glow plugs came out fairly easily (PB Blaster is my bff). They're Bosch 7v plugs (original, I'm guessing), and one's a little bent at the connector, so I'll replace with new 5v plugs.
The turbo was a pain to remove. I'm guessing the answer to "how much end play is acceptable on the turbo shaft?" is "Not much.", so I'll probably be replacing that as well. Injector Number 2 took a lot of penetrating oil, wiggling, and patience, but in the end they all came by hand. With the head off, the crank turns smoothly with a 21mm wrench on the crank bolt. Head gasket and piston tops look pretty good, as far as I can tell. The stuff on them seems to be penetrating oil and other crud that fell in when I pulled the injectors. The only place the carbon seems disturbed is where the intake valves touched piston #1, but there doesn't seem to be any deformation.
Cylinder 4:
Cylinder 3:
Cylinder 2:
Cylinder 1 (front):
I currently have the EGR off, water pump back half off, A/C compressor and p/s pump loose, fuel hoses off, starter off, and should be all set to remove the flex plate fasteners and bell housing bolts, and pull it this week sometime. I am having a little trouble with the engine ground down by the dipstick tube. The nut seems fused to the strap connector, and the stud is seized, so I twisted the little torx head off of it. Is there a trick I'm missing to getting it loose?
Then it's going on the engine stand. What's the best way to mount it on the stand?