head swap troubles

Yeah, there is only 6 bolts that hold the upper intake down to the lower. If the intakes have never been apart then they are probably just gummed up together and its gonna take some pulling and banging to get them apart.

If you have the clearance to get the intakes off with the dist in then yes you can do it. However, I can't believe your going to do heads and while your doing that not do a cam with the heads. A cam is not that expensive and with the heads will help immensely. Also I would go ahead and do a timing chain since your gonna be in there like you said and once again this is another good reason to go ahead and do the cam swap at this time. The biggest advice I can give is take your time, label everything where it goes and keep everything as clean as you can while your doing the install. Good luck

There is no way to get the heads on the dowels without lifting or disturbing the lower intake. Then you have to deal with the gaskets...

The problem is not getting the lower intake out with the dizzy left in. It's going the other way. You want to make absolutely sure you don't misalign or disturb the lower intake gaskets. I use 5/16 studs as guides for aligning everything up. Use 5 inch on the front and 3 inch on the back and walla! Perfect alignment. But, if you want the heads off, you have to take the lower off.

I always found the best way to move something like that is to use wood, like a board, that way if you have to hammer or pry the wood will give befor something brakes

Some wood or a rubber mallet would be fine. Just don't use anything metal on your intake to hit it.

93GTosu said:

ok thanks!!!!! i've just been yanking on it with my hands and trying to rock it. Would it be ok to hit it with a hammer or anything? what can i bang it with? i'm seriously at my wits end on this and all 145lbs. of me isnt moving that thing very far (or at all). what have you guys done?

Click to expand...

145lbs ????
I remember 5th grade... I was the fat kid back then too


You shouldn't have to pull the dist. to get the lower manifold out. Then again I tend to forget some details....






:Word:

Take all of the bolts out of the heads and crank the car over a bit. The compression will pop the heads off the block. Make sure to pull the fuel pump relay so you don't have fuel dumping out everywhere.

Cylinder head removal & replacement

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. Remove the A/C compressor mount bolts and move the compressor out of the way. The A/C compressor swings out of the way without disconnecting any of the lines or losing any refrigerant. 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. Make a scribe mark on the distributor base and engine block. Now you can pull the distributor out. When you re-install the distributor back in the engine, make sure you are still on TDC compression for #1 and then line up the scribe mark on the distributor and engine. You will be very close to where the engine was timed when you took out the distributor.

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:
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.
Exhaust 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)

Machine shop charges will vary - figure $275-$350 to have heads checked for cracks, cleaned, surfaced, valves ground, valve guides reconditioned, valve springs checked and bad springs replaced.


Edit: Distributor installation:
Putting the distributor back in is fairly simple. Pull #1 sparkplug, put your finger in the sparkplug hole, crank the engine until you feel compression. Then line up the TDC mark on the balancer with the pointer on the engine block.

The distributor starts out with the #1 plug wire lined up at about 12:00 with you facing it. Align the rotor to about 11:00, since it will turn clockwise as it slides into place.

Align the distributor rotor up with the #1 position marked on the cap, slide the distributor down into the block, (you may have to wiggle the rotor slightly to get the gear to engage) and then note where the rotor is pointing. If it still lines up with #1 position on the cap, install the clamp and bolt. If not, pull it out and turn 1 tooth forwards or backwards and try again. Put the #1 spark plug back in and tighten it down, put the clamp on the distributor, but don't tighten it too much, as you will have to move the distributor to set the timing. Note that if it doesn't align perfectly with #1 position, you can turn the distributor until it does. The only problem is that if you are too far one way or the other, you can't turn the distributor enough to get the 10-14 degree optimum timing range.

At this point hook up all the wires, get out the timing light and start the engine. Set the timing where your car runs best. Don't forget to disconnect the SPOUT jumper connector when you set the timing, and plug it back in when you finish.

I'd also take the time to clean and paint as much as you can while your at it, it'll give it a cleaver look, maybe even pressure was everything below the headline...

If you are going that far and not doing a cam, I would at least do a new timing chain, for peace of mind. I made the decision to replace mt timing chain before I even took anything apart. My engine has 84k on it and I noticed that when I pulled the timing cover off that the chain has some slack in it and the sprockets were rounding off at the tips and the edges. A little slack is ok but you don't want too much. I dont remember the spec on the slack, but while you are that close I would do it.

My cousins had 185k on their 5.0 when the timing chain snapped, balled up, bent a valve or two, broke the crank in half, and broke the block. I seen the aftermath and it was really ugly...lol.

I know that's many more miles than what you have but before you put it all back together I would pull the timing cover anyways just to see what kind of condition the chain and sprockets are in.

Good Luck!