Ok I am gearing up to do my cylinder head swap over at the end of January, in about two weeks. I already have another cylinder head, a full top end gasket set from Fel-Pro, and I just order a set of ARP head studs. What else can I do with the head off that would be good maintenance? The previous owner stated he replaced the timing belt, water pump, radiator, and thermostat before I bought the car, although I don’t know how long ago that was. I have about 153K on the motor. Aside from rebuilding the bottom end and the head, is there anything else I can replace with it off?
I know I need to buy coolant, an oil change, but what else? Much appreciated.
Also, are there any degreasers you guys recommend for cleaning the top of the block where the pistons sit once the head is off? My #1 cylinder was fouling out with oil and I know the top of the piston has a lot of sludge on top of it.
be weary of felpro gaskets. they dont always fit. oem would of been the best way to go. but i understand the money savings thing with going felpro. i cant think of anything that you could do while the head was off. the head studs is a good idea.
Thanks for the quick input. I had to go with Fel-pro due to the wife’s budget concerns. I wish I could have afforded a cosmetic set really. I was going to reuse my stock bolts, but I decided not to risk having to do this twice if they fail.
if the timing belt, wtaer pump etc are unknowns… may just want to go ahead and replace those and the oil pump as well since ya have it all apart… may not be needed but cannot hurt either…
would suggest new plugs and wires, maybe distributor cap and rotor along with a valve adjustment. Those are common tune up items but good practice for when you undertake head work.
I assume it’s more recent and doing all of that will put me outside of the budget. I already have replacement spark plugs and the wires, distributor, cap and rotor are all MSD so I assume that they are all good for a while. And by valve adjustment do you mean a the valve lashing?
valve lash is when the valves get out of spec and start making loud clicking noise… the adjustment is to counter valve lash… you need a feeler gauge and a good hour full of patience while you verify each valve is at factory specs while going through the engine rotation.
I do not recall exact gap that you need for intake and exhaust, but intake side is different from exhaust clearance. There are several articles on how to do it
Thanks Zach. (also my name) lol. I’ve got the service manual so I will be doing the valve lash as my final step before finally putting the valve cover on and everything. I’m going to be draining the coolant and oil over night tonight and I’ll be cracking into the head tonight, with a metric f-ton of pictures of course.
Ok here’s my progress so far. Working along at a decent pace. I’m moving on to the back of the head today. I’m going to replace the upper radiator hose because frankly the previous owner’s choice of metal wrap on EVERYTHING is a little too much for me. I was going to just remove the wrap on the upper radiator hose, but it looks like there is some sort of ugly heat wrap underneath that.
Quick question, when I pulled the valve cover I noticed there was a lot of oil sitting on the head. I drained the oil over night and expected there to be practically no oil in the engine. Is this normal or do you guys think some of my oil passages may be clogged? (see picture 3)
Cool deal. I won’t bother since I have a bare head I’m swapping in. Any tips on the bottom intake manifold bolt that’s on the passenger side. Not the one right by the thermostat, the one next to it. It’s the only one I can’t get to and the only one holding the manifold on at the moment.
EDIT: Can I route the clutch cable under the intake manifold? I hate how that thing is just flopping around on top of the engine? Anyone know if there is enough length on the cable?
hmm you could always just get at the bolt when you pull the head lol… just disconnect all the hoses to the IM and pull it all together maybe… otherwise maybe use a swivel socket and alot of patience…
Just pulled the top (“middle”) cover off the cam pulleys and set TDC via the “Up” marks, but I noticed the side marks are off, especially the exhaust cam. Does this mean my timing was off? Comparing it to the service manual all the marks should line up.
And there goes my cylinder head. Prying the header back to get enough play to slide the head out was a pain in my ass. In hindsight I should have probably just disconnected it completely. Anyway, you can see the oil on top of piston 1, looking like crap. New head is going to solve that.
that looks to me like your timing belt skipped a tooth… would explain some of your issue… but like you said… new head will help solve some of that stuff. Just make sure all marks are lined up ok!
What I don’t get is that marks don’t even really line up on the cam gears. It seems like the the exhaust cam gear (left one) is one tooth off, even on the mark. Is this normal?
Quick update for anyone who is watching this thread. Just started the car up and it ran like crap. The timing belt is slapping all over the place. Tensioner?
Edit: Adjusted the tension in the belt a second time and there is A LOT less play in the belt. Almost zero except for certain points of rotation through the engine, but it only moved maybe less than a 1/4". Hopefully this thing will sound a lot better than it did before…we shall see. I’m throwing the valve cover on now.
Ok. No luck after putting the head on. I had the car towed to my shop today. We are unable to work on our on vehicles there so I’m passing it off to our lead mechanic. As of right now it won’t start at all. It won’t turn over. There is terrible compression on the cylinders. I got a reading of 130, 40, 35, and 5. Left to right from cylinders 4 to 1.
I’m facepalming myself right now. I’m screwed. I have no idea why it’s reading such low numbers since on my other head even with the leaking cylinder #1, it read in the 175-180 PSI range on all cylinders. I wonder if I was sold a bad head or if it was something I did to mess it up? Any ideas, thoughts, or opinions?
make sure the head and block deck are even across the top. SOunds like you did a good job with everything… I’d guess timing was off a tad or a bad valve? Not sure as you are way into the block at this point. See what the lead mechanic says…
looking at that 1 pic above where things didn’t seem lined up right? That may have something to do with this mess… IDK Maybe welfare will magically appear and have some G2 Guru shit to drop on us LOL…
I did have the head decked, the block I did not since I didn’t want to pull it. I don’t think that’s my problem. I really think the guy sold me a bad head, but I’m still waiting for our lead mechanic to check it out on Monday.
I’m seriously considering buying a B18b from HMO or somewhere and calling it a day. There is a guy right now selling just the block with ITR pistons on Craigslist for $220 in my neck of the woods.
EDIT: I did some more research and it does look like bad timing will throw your compression numbers off. Aside from compression numbers being off, I really hope I didn’t bend a valve or anything. I am going to give it another adjustment.
