If you are doing a proper job then get a small tube of moly paste (not moly grease) and coat the valves stems, this protects the valves on first start up before the oil pressure lifts and is worth the £10 or so it will cost.

explain further, what does this do etc :D

which one

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Its like a thick grey paste thats used on non bearing moving parts, so valve stems etc. Its just about the highest rated lube you can get and is super high heat resistant.
When you build from clean it will stay where you put it where as oil will flow off so when you first kick the motor in everything gets a kick in the teeth without it.

what bits do i put it on? rockers, shims, cam journels, valve stem etc?

Just use it on the valve stem, thin but no gaps. You got oil sprayed at the parts in the head and you will fill all the gallerys with oil first (say yes)but the valve runs after the oil seal so its well worth using.

I had some valve stem seals of Rick O, very good, to be honest they woudl be very very hard to tell apart from the Honda originals.
I used genuine Honda head gaskets, didn't fancy taking the engine apart for a dodgy gasket. I dont think that they are that much more expensive than the cheaper ones.

FWIW, I used an NE set from Rick once and they were faultless, except the clutch casing was slightly out of shape, it wasn't a perfect fit but it did seal okay; and there was no gearchange housing gasket in the full kit.

The stem seals seemed to do the job, certainly no smoke or anything so... pay your money and take yer chances!