Lower Intake Rebuild

[ExplorerV6]

I will be replacing my lower intake gasket soon and am wondering if there is anything else that I should replace while I am in there. As of right now I am planning on replacing the upper and lower intake gaskets and the valve cover gaskets. Is there anything else that I should replace while it is all apart(injector o-rings, thermostat, etc.)? I have the 4.0 ohv and have no idea what(if anything) has ever been replaced. Should I attempt to clean out any carbon from the ports or could it cause more harm than good by potentially knocking crud into the engine, and if I should than what should I use to clean it?

Thanks for any input.

 

[team]

i went ahead and cleaned out my ports. Just use some type of scraper and then vacuum out the loose stuff with a shop vac. I also laid some shop towels in the lifter valley for anything that fell down there. I was amazed at the amount of carbon in the intake ports. X had 170,000 miles, one owner and always serviced correctly/on time.