. . . we are supposed to be talking about Chris's kaa.. 
"kaa" - that sounds true.
When Kate went to a reading and book signing by David Sedaris, he drew a picture of a kite on the inside of the cover, and wrote beneath it, "If you lived in Australia, this is how they would pronounce your name".

Well, here’s a thinker.
As Frank called it, it was the spring that goes around the valve guide seal. Here’s the one that remained in place, though hardly intact, alongside a new seal, of which I have extras –

Here’s the center intake valve guide seals – slightly - oh so slightly hammered, maybe even still usable, but standing proud about 3/32 of an inch from the height of the exhaust valve guides, which don’t have seals and were unaffected -

Grummy’s suggestion was to skip the springs, but I suspect I’d still be pulverizing the seals. Of course, by the time the Colonel made his suggestion to check the clearance between the keeper and the seal by turning it over by hand, I had already pulled the head.
Wisdonm and I met up for drinks on Tuesday (and we will do this again) with Dick Luening, probably the foremost authority in Milwaukee regarding things MG, and we were unable to come up with a source for Teflon seals. The carbon buildup on the top of the pistons coincided with the destroyed springs. The cleanup of the piston tops was quite oily, and while I still suspect that I’m running rich, I also suspect I was sucking some oil into my intake charge.
I’m going to look into different retainers, or possibly see if I can have the ones I’ve got machined for clearance. Another option might be having a new set of guides pressed in with provisions for a different seal.
Yeah, it’s a thinker.