Head GAsket Swap

is it turbo? that makes a big difference. i can do a turbo in like 3-4 hours by myself probably, but then ive done it like 10 times.

to do a swap / 3 to 5 hours if you clean it all / if high miles rec. head work / resurface, ALS

als said:

to do a swap / 3 to 5 hours if you clean it all / if high miles rec. head work / resurface, ALS

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I pulled apart my omni nonight in 1hr. I immaginge I could have it going in less than three. The kick in the nuts is getting the spring bolts that hold the down pipe on there if they have been on for a while. I would reccomend getting some long pattern wrenches if you dont already have them. They give enough leverage to cut down on the swearing many fold.

i always go to the dealer and get another nut with the little tab on it for both sides, and new bolts. makes it much easier for next time.

It is a turbo. Will checkout the wrenches. Anything to make it easier.

my highschool students did a head gasket on a turbo spirit in 4 class periods including resurfacing it in our machine shop.

Am ready to pull the head. The AutoZone manual on line has me take off the manifolds then pull head. I think I remember a post where you save time if you leave one or both on. Is this right or is has my memory failed me agian?

leave manifolds on the head including the turbo (if equiped) on the turbo cars don't forget the support bracket, coolant lines, oil return and supply lines. very easy to miss and makes disassembly very difficult if they are forgotten. you do NOT need to remove the a/c bracket, just take off 2 nuts/2 bolts holding the compressor to the the bracket, pull compressor from bracket and use a bungy cord or equiv... to hold out of the way. remove top 2 bolts from ac bracket to cyl head. don't forget to remove engine oil dipstick tube from the thermostat housing (A lot of novices miss this one also)

roadrunnervert said:

Am ready to pull the head. The AutoZone manual on line has me take off the manifolds then pull head. I think I remember a post where you save time if you leave one or both on. Is this right or is has my memory failed me agian?

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I would lite myself on fire before I tried to pull the int/exh manifolds with the head on. I was pretty close to it when swaping my turbo from the omni to the shadow on sunday with he heads on.

I found a little pool of coolant in the turbo inlet tube. Yikes.

Is it easiest to leave all vacuum lines on the manifld while pulling the head/manifolds? Hopefully will finsih the head pull soon to see what is inside.

I always lave what ever can stay on the head/manifold assy when pulling it, and worry about it later.

How do you guys do it so fast??? It took me and OhioRob 9 hours to swap turbos. lol Of course he was just supervising, and I cleaned the hell out of the decks, but less than 4 hours is nuts.

Dave said:

How do you guys do it so fast??? It took me and OhioRob 9 hours to swap turbos. lol Of course he was just supervising, and I cleaned the hell out of the decks, but less than 4 hours is nuts.

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inorder to have highschool kids do it in under 4 class periods. first I made them study the shop manual and analyze the car. Also, before they started, they had to make a list of tools and sizes needed for every nut and bolt. it took them 3 class periods to identify the proceedure and required tools before I let them do the job... this preparation make the job go very quickly. took one period to pull head, one period to surface the head, and 2 periods to assemble. 4 kids all working diligently made for efficient repair.

Dave said:

How do you guys do it so fast??? It took me and OhioRob 9 hours to swap turbos. lol Of course he was just supervising, and I cleaned the hell out of the decks, but less than 4 hours is nuts.

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once you do it a couple of times you would be amazed at the time you shave off the job.

I will agree with cordes, leave as much on the head as you can, I have the gasket swap down to about 3 hours now

Una said:

Same here, 3 hours, virtually doing it by myself. Only part you HAVE to have a second person for is lifting the head with the manifolds attached to it out of the engine bay/back in.. Unless your a gorilla of a man, then maybe you can do it yourself, but I really like having the control of two people on the job when lowering the head back down so that you don't scratch it back and forth on the alignment dowels..

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Yeah, I pulled the head, and put it back in by myself the first time that I did it on the shadow. It was not too bad, but having the second guy really makes it easier.