Is there a thread or has some one found/made a nice how to on pulling a head to do a head gasket? I am not an idiot, but a walk-through would make things much much simpler. I was thinking of just doing the valve cover till the fruits of my engine washing adventure paid off..... it is weeping at the seam in 3 spots.... still confuses me because the exhaust smells CLEAN no smell of burnt coolant or oil... the oil isn't milky or show any signs of coolant and oil mixing.... but it is definitely weeping out of the head gasket so maybe i am the luckiest bastard in the world and had a head gasket failure with no real damage? either way i have decided to pull the head but i would like a guide or some thing to walk me through.... and yes a bought a $20 manual from the parts store but those suck hard.... also any gurus want to give me some pointers as some maintenance/BUDGET upgrades i should do while i have it apart?? i was going to port and polish the head and look into having it decked already...


P.S. offer in all my threads still stands... anyone in the greater Detroit / Sterling heights area want to come over and give me a hand/pointers I will supply the beer.

 

Before you do the gasket, try torquing the head bolts back to spec. It's possible they have worked loose a bit over the years.

 

so half a turn past hand tight?.....

 

Close, they need to be torqued in sequence. Eventually they end up at 110ft lbs, except for the front right bolt gets torqued to 100ft lbs.

I just did this last weekend. Its not hard at all. Check your PM

 

definate PM

 

PM = Private message

 

ok, ppl on here dont know me and might contradict what i say. but remove your valve cover. then your p/s pump. place it aside. leave all hoses attched. if you have a/c then remove the pump, and place it aside as well. all hoses attached. remove the a/c bracket, the p/s bracket. remove the ground strap at the rear of the head. disconnect all electrical that attaches to anything on the head. tps, map, coolant temp, intake air temp, yadda yadda... remove the intake and exhaust manifolds. top bolts from above, bottoms from below (unbolt exhaust from downpipe) once all this is off you are left with the "tower of Power" remove all head bolts and have a friend help you lift the head off cuz that cast ***** is heavy!! you are now at the head gasket. remove the old one by hand, and if you can check the block and the head for warpage with a straight edge and feeler gauges. first straight across the pistons on the block. then in an "x" pattern on the block. if it is over 0.005" it needs to be macined. the same measurements must be done on the heads. also check youre exhaust manifold for cracks. put the new gasket onn after all machining is done "if required" tourqe all head bolts to factory spec, in proper tourqe sequence, and then install youre manifolds, p/s pump and a/c compressor, belt etc, and fire her up!! oh yeah dont forget to plug in all electrical and get your firing order right

 

PM=preventative maintenence. Also, engine has to be TDC before engine teardown correct?

 

Haha, no, check your pm on here means Private messages. Its a feature on the forum used to message other users privately.