Head swap stuff

well it should be easier for you first time since you have a carb. replace pushrods, lifters and rocker arms if high mileage. Also make sure lifters and pushrods are marked and are put in the same place you took them out of. Better off replacing w/ aftermarket/ new ones though

Matt

not too sure with carbs...but i think you may have it covered.

head gasket, intake gasket, thermostat housing gasket (if you take it off), valve cover gaskets, gasket for the carb...alright, tools you will need at a torque wrench, timing light, scraper (for old gasket material), zip lock bags to mark where everything went. i think that about covers it, besides all the wrenches and whatnot

Timing chain cover gasket. Not sure whether or not you need to take off the water pump or not. My friend and I did. If so, you will need that gasket too. Also, you may need a harmonic balancer puller. Those things are pains to get off. New coolant since you need to take out the radiator. Just some of that little stuff people look over, and when the time comes, they don't have it. Good luck with the install. I am doing the same over the summer.

the HCI...

Buy an Felpro Over Haul gasket set, for some reason the Head set cost more!! and they are the same gaskets.... Intake gasket get the Felpro 1250 gasket to match the ported heads, and then match up the intake ports with a general "rounding of the corners" to smooth the transition..from intake to heads... the timing cover gasket is in the O/H set... you will have to pull the lower dampner ( need to buy or rent a dampner puller) , take the waterpump off with the timing cover... no need to duplicate work!! Heads and intake is a piece of cake... pull the lifters and cam, set the "killer Ported heads" on, install the camshaft, lifters ( dont forget to lube the stuff) and reverse order puting back to gether... help full hints!! set the engine on TDC, remove the distrip cap and note where the rotor button is pointed !( this will help when you install the dist...cool??) The heads gasket goes on BoTH ways... and one way is WRONG!! look at the gasket and find " front" and instll correct!! get used to opening the hood and removing the air cleaner... Oh Hell yes, you'll need to keep pulling the camero's out of the carb as you suck them up!! LOL figure on a full weekend and have fun!! cool??
Oh, yeah... first you have to get my heads....LOL!!

Just me..............................

Thumper

Here's some dissassembly/reassembly help...

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.

Consumable parts for EFI only:
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: