cheapest way to fix a burnt valve/loss of comp

So i'm towing home a 98 2.4l 130k miles on the odo, tomorrow. My buddy drove it around for months with a cracked exhaust header, burnt a valve, now has lost compression in cyl 3(i think its no. 3). I've been searching around on this forum and see odessa has had a good review
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TOYOTA-TACOMA-T100-4-RUNNER-2-4-2-7-CYLINDER-HEAD-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem2559bec0d0QQitemZ160419463376QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories#ht_2171wt_754


i don't have much money and would rather break down the cyl head myself, take it to a shop to get it re-surfaced, replace the burnt valve with a new one and re-assemble the head with new valve stem seals and slap that puppy back on with a new headgasket. Has anybody done this? If so is there a wright up on disasembling/re-assembling the 2rz/3rz head?

Header question, should i weld the crack? Or are these casting weak and its just going to crack again in which cas i find an aftermarket header? If aftermarket are the gains provided worth the cost of a new header? Which header to i get?

Thanks to all in advance for any help

Newb,
Mike

 

Cheap way is finding another engine and putting it in yourself

 

i highly doubt thats cheaper than the 375 for the head i listed above.

 

i guess nobody around these parts has torn down a head...