Nearly got the heads off

[jleyton]

Not sure whether I've missed the boat on this thread, but have you tried the rope trick?

But not like this, although if you can do that, lifting a head might be a doddle

Good luck though Mike

Cheers

Julian

indian-rope-trick.jpg

[mike@thenook]

Love it Julian

Cheers!

[mike@thenook]

Both heads are now off,
The left hand one was easy - all the studs/bolts all came out but it was this head that had the blown gasket, just a small amount of movement of the seal between the two rearmost cylinders which I hasten to add may well be down to the fact the studs/bolts on this side all seemed remarkably loose compared to the RHS bank - really odd as while I haven’t torqued them down again in years I've done nothing to disturb them either.
Thank fully though the nickel plated studs (I didn’t realise i'd used) came out really easily.
The RH H though had one end stud that just wouldn’t budge so I ended up jacking the head up slightly from front end just enough to get a saw through at the other end with no damage to either surface thankfully.
The bolt that I managed to shear which started this all off was another story – the thread of that bolt appears welded into the block so there must have been at some point some serious heat generated mid point on the RH bank although the engine has never overheated –weird!
Both heads now at Gosnay’s having a mild skim (again) and will be fitted back using their Savershims – I will use standard gaskets this time rather than extra thick ones as the difference will be taken up by the shim.
Block is fine to go (but all in bits) so will start getting all back together soon – ish.
While the engine is out I’m thinking about some other mod’s too; I may well put the battery in the boot so I can re-route the main power cables from there and away from the heat of the tubular manifolds, they produce too much heat and far too close to the wiring on the RHS of the car, plus I think all the cables down there look a complete mess anyway.
Once the battery is moved that area can be used for a useful size washer bottle which again, will be away from the melting point just above the tub’s and balance the front end a bit more evenly.
Do I really need to make more work for myself though……..