head gasket installation

just finished doing this on my buddies H/C/I . dont know how different on a stock stang.

obviously disconnect battery.

remove upper and lower intake, youll need gaskets for these too. when replacing.

remove valve covers, in my friends case roller rockers.

remove distributor wires etc.

remove headers. finally remove the heads.


oh yea and i forgot dont attempt it unless you ahve a torque wrench. gotta torque everything down to the right specs.

make sure and clean all the old gasket junk off every piece of metal you take off and might as well replace the header gaskets. in my friends case we had to set the the rockers up that was a PITA! this is a breif description, but ill tell you what, before i did it, i always assumed it was easier that it actually was. theres alot to tune after wards.

You will have to re-install the rockers - so that would be a good time to install a set. Also, the front accessories have to come off (a/c;p/s;alt) because that all bolts to the heads. The egr crossover tube in the back has to come off as it connects the two heads. Of course, drain all the coolant before you start unless you don't mind ending up with cylinders/crankcase full of coolant. Be sure to drain and refill the oil after the job - some coolant/debris usually finds it's way into the crankcase during the job. Also, great time to replace any coolant hoses (bypass hose, heater hoses, upper radiator hose all have to come off).

It's a pretty involved job - basically most of the external engine has come apart - down to the short block.

when you are down to the block it will look like this

forgot some stuff man ....radiator , fan and fan clutch , alternator and ac and brackets that bolt to heads and emissions pipe to back of heads .....

If this is your first time, find a book, to make sure you have all the steps, and all the torque settings to reinstall stuff.

Park the car where you can leave it until you are done.

Put every bolt or set of bolts, nuts, etc in a plastic sandwich bag and label it.

Leave plenty of time to carefully clean the gasket surfaces of the engine block , heads, intake, etc. If it has never been apart, this will take some time.

I use a shop vac to get crud out of the cylinders, etc, and coolant and crud out of the lifter valley.

Get it all back together and change the oil before you start it, so that you don't circulate spilled coolant in the oil. After an hour or so, change the oil and filter again.

Take your time and torque everything, and write it down.

2002 - Don't have to touch the radiator unless you're throwing a cam in.

If it's your first time, make sure you label everything (Bolts/hoses/wires and everything). It'll make the job soooo much easier.

Might want a friend to help you get the heads back in place if you have the stockers. That iron can be pretty damn heavy.

Just take it slow and add a day or two onto whatever you expect it to take. Something little always goes wrong. For me it was a couple stripped head-lower intake holes which i had to helicoil (previous owner stripped them). And make sure you have a power steering pump pulley puller. That thing wont budge otherwise.

Might want to vacuum the cylinders out after cleaning off the top of the block too, there is bound to be some debris that gets in.

Good luck, and take your time.

Plan on 3 days to do the job if you haven't done it before.

Day one gets the heads off in 4-6 hours. The A/C Compressor comes off with lines still connected. Mark all the electrical, smog and vacuum lines with tags to help you remember where to re-connect them.

Day two gets all the gasket surfaces scraped off extra clean and the heads dropped off at the machine shop if you are going to have them reconditioned. Time here is another 4-6 hours. Whatever you do, don't skimp on cleaning the gasket surfaces. New gaskets need to seat against bare metal and not the residue left from the old gaskets in order to seal leak free. This is the most time consuming and tiresome part of the job. Look for little things that need to be replaced like the short hose from the thermostat hosing to the water pump, damaged vacuum lines and hose clamps that are rusted or broken.

Day three starts when you get the heads back from the machine shop. This is the time to pick up all the little odd pieces you found needing replacement on your day two inspection/cleanup. Plan on 6-8 hours to reinstall the heads and reconnect everything. Plan on an additional 2 hours to troubleshoot/adjust everything.

Now for some practical tips:

Plan on cutting the thermostat to water pump hose, or removing the thermostat housing. Also plan on removing the distributor to get clearance to remove the intake manifold. Remove #1 spark plug, stick your finger in the spark plug hole and crank. When your finger gets air moving past it, stop cranking. Turn the engine until the timing marks line up with the pointer. Now you can pull the distributor out.

You'll need new head bolts - get ARP bolts ($40) or studs ($93, maybe more). All the bolts get antiseize under the bolt heads, and everything but the short head bolts get it on the threads. You need Teflon pipe dope or ARP sealant to coat the threads of the short head bolts. The short bolts go into the water jacket and will seep coolant if you don't use the sealant.

My favorite trick that saves time and effort is the stay in place gasket. Be sure that you scrape (don't use a wire brush) all the old gasket material off, then clean all the surfaces with acetone or MEK.

When the surfaces are clean, use weather strip adhesive on the head to manifold surface, and on the side of the gasket that mates to the head. Follow the instructions on the tube or can and when it gets tacky, press the gasket down on the head.

Clean the area where the rubber rails mount to the block in front and in the rear with more acetone or MEK and do the same trick with the weather strip adhesive that you did to the heads.

Coat the rubber seals and the gasket area around the water passages with lots of Blue Silicone gasket sealer and put it together. Walla! No leaks and no gaskets that shifted out of place.

If you reuse the injectors from your old setup, a repair kit is available from most auto parts stores if needed. Coat the injector body "O" rings with oil before you use them and everything will slide back together.

For iron heads, clean the combustion chambers with a wire brush in an air or electric drill. I used a scraper for the pistons. I don't like to use the wire brush on pistons because it will remove metal very easily.

Change the oil once you get everything back together. Once the engine is up & running, run it for 1-2 hours and change the oil.


Tools: a good torque wrench is a must have item. A razor blade scraper that holds a single edge razor blade from Home Depot or Ace hardware is another handy thing. Get a Chilton or Haynes shop manual - you'll need it for the bolt torques and patterns. The intake manifold has an especially odd pattern. You'll need access to a timing light to set the timing after you re-stab the distributor. Look in the A/C repair section for the fuel line tools. They look like little plastic top hats. You will need the 1/2" & 5/8" ones. The hat shaped section goes on facing the large part of the coupling. Then you press hard on the brim until it forces the sleeve into the coupling and releases the spring. You may need someone to pull on the line while you press on the coupling. Put some motor oil on them when you put the line back together.

Consumable parts:
Fuel injector seal kits with 2 O rings and a pintle cap (Borg-Warner P/N 274081) are available at Pep Boys auto parts. Cost is about $2.74 per kit. The pintle caps fit either injectors with a pin sticking out the injector end or 4 with more tiny holes in the injector end. The following are listed at the Borg-Warner site ( http://www.borg-warner.com ) as being resellers of Borg-Warner parts:

http://www.partsplus.com/ or http://www.autovalue.com/ or http://www.pepboys.com/ or http://www.federatedautoparts.com/

Most of the links above have store locators for find a store in your area.

Head gaskets
upper manifold gasket
lower manifold gasket set.
Rocker cover gaskets - look for the rubber ones with the steel bushings - Summit has them
Short formed hose between thermostat hosing and intake manifold
6 ft 7/64" or 1/8" vacuum hose
2 ft 1/2" heater hose
1 1/2 ft 5/8" heater hose
Blue Silicone sealer
ARP antiseize or equal for the bolts
ARP thread sealer or Teflon pipe dope for the short bolts.
4 each 3/4" hose clamps (spare item in case the old ones are bad)
4 each 1/2" hose clamps (spare item)

Check with machine shops on head rebuild prices.

Use masking tape and a permanent ink marker (Sharpie) to label all connections (vacuum hoses, wiring connections, etc.) Any other kind of ink will smear/fade when coolant/oil/gas gets on it. And it will get on it.

Smeckel said:

2002 - Don't have to touch the radiator unless you're throwing a cam in.

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Dont have to but if its his first time take it out so you dont accidently hit it with anything ....if you live close to bedford VA I will do it for 200 labor .... LOL , have it done in 6 hours or less ....