Hi, i am doing exactly the same as you re removing the head (also 316i M43 motor) as the car was losing water badly and i already had replaced the plastic pipes at the back and under the inlet manifold with new ones. Anyway, went out and bought a set of torx sockets from Autozone for R117 rand and used my normal half inch driver to get the headbolts out. I only removed the alternater wiring and removed the alternator just to make it easier to work on the car. Head is cracked badly but is at a company specializing in welding the head. They apparently heat it up and then weld it. Did the same thing to my old E39 528 which my brother is still driving after four years and 50k km's. Anyway, hope they can fix it as a secondhand head without cam is R3k and then you still have to have it pressure tested and skimmed.Car has done over 400k km's and would initially start with a misfire on one cylinder and then run like a swiss watch and pulled like a train. OK, not exactly but i would often be surprised at the smoothness of the motor. Anyway, am really appreciating all the advice from all you forumites! Thanks!
Just a tip! Replace the small plastic elbow at the back of the head with a new part from BMW as well as the T-piece under the inlet manifold that sits on the block now that the manifold is out of the way. I can guarantee that the o-rings will have disintegrated by this time as that was exactly what was the case on my motor.