Ok... here goes!

One of my r53’s is in need of a head gasket replacement... and also a manifold/header. Seems that the coolant leaked down and then went through the exhaust and clogged the cat. As the head will be coming off anyways am I better off purchasing a new performance head? Or should I go about having my head checked and if good then port and polish that, or leave it alone? I don’t plan on making the car in question much crazier than a bolt on car that may see some autocross as this one I more bought for my wife so we could go buzz around with our kids both driving MINI’s. I also have never wrenched on one of these this is my first go round! I have been reading as much as possible and I have looked through some threads so I apologize in advance if I missed this topic being covered before, but I really was interested in what some people have to say as I also have another r53 that will be geared more towards autocross and track car for myself. Thanks in advance guys!

I don’t want to go to crazy with this one as my wife will probably drive it quite a bit to work when the weather is nice. Just figured if the heads going to come off it may be a good time to do some upgrades? If I’m better off leaving the head stock because it’s more trouble than it’s worth, then so be it. But if I can see a decent gain that doesn’t kill the street ability and low end then why not?