[Vwdiesel] carbon/soot build up

[engle31 at comcast.net]

I pulled the head on my 1.6 na last evening to replace the headgasket and waterpump before installing the motor in my Caddy. The underside of the head wasthick with a carbon/soot build up around the valves in the pattern of the headgasket. Each set of valves per cylinder had this thick build up. I needed a razor blade to scrape it away.

Is this normal? The motor has some miles on it, but it did run before it was pulled from the Rabbit I scrapped. I've seen other heads that one could use sone cleaner to clean up the underside of the head. I'm just wondering if this is a sign of something else that should be replaced/repaired.

Also are the hex headed headbolts, stretch or non-stretch type bolts?