Head gaskets

[Trevor]

By the end of the week I should finally be ready to put my heads back in after breaking exhaust manifold bolts off in them... two years ago.

Anybody up for a shop day sometime in the next month or so? The amount of time that has gone by since I took things apart makes me wonder how well I'm going to do getting everything back together.

[Frank84]

I'm not sure I'll have time for a shop day with my project going, but it will be good to see your truck back on the road! How did you end up getting the broken bolts out? The V8 I just removed has had three broken bolts in the heads for the past 5 years.

[Trevor]

After I broke off a snap on ez out in the first one and messed up the threads around it while trying, unsuccessfully, to drill it out and break it out, I pulled the heads and took them to a machinist. I didn't even bother trying to get the two out on the driver's side head. I believe he drilled them out. I guess he may have used an EDM.

For the one I messed up, he drilled it out over size, tapped it, and threaded in a piece of stainless. He then drilled and tapped the new hole into the stainless. That part was well worth the $75 it costs me.

[Frank84]

$75 sounds like a good deal to me. At least you'll be able to put all of the bolts back in properly now.

[Trevor]

I just finished my first valve job.





And here is the repair on the tapping that started it all:



I've got some RAVE studying to do and then I might start putting it back together tomorrow.

[Frank84]

Looking good! Hopefully you can get it back on the road again soon. Is there anything else that you have to do after the engine is put back together?

[Trevor]

I need to put the center console back together. The brakes were also a little squishy last time I drove it, so I imagine I'll have to look into that. Other than that there is a whole list of things to do, but they are not necessary for it to be road worthy. I suppose there could be all sorts of things that crop up once I get things put together... it has been stationary for over a year and a half and only driven around the driveway for six months prior to that.

I got the heads on today. Cleaning up the exhaust manifolds and putting them on is next. I have a broken stud to remove from one of them.

[Frank84]

Hopefully there aren't any new surprises when you start to drive it again. If some of the stud is left, I've had good luck with a cheap harbor freight stud extractor before on those. A little heat helps too of course.

[Trevor]

I should have heated it up, but I was being impatient while trying to get the mating surfaces cleaned up. There was nothing wrong with the stud, but I broke it off in my haste. A few minutes at the drill press and and a tap got it fixed up. These things are so much easier when they are not attached to a vehicle. It also helps when there is not a piece of super hard Snap-on extractor broken off in the offending fastener.

[Frank84]

[QUOTE=Trevor;17782]These things are so much easier when they are not attached to a vehicle.QUOTE]

That's for sure! I'm finding that is true with just about everything on these cars.