Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2000 19:13:22 -0500
Reply-To: "Joe L." <jliasse@TOAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Joe L." <jliasse@TOAST.NET>
Subject: Re: head job
In-Reply-To: <E12IFeB-0001IN-00@mail.xmission.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Having done NO work on other cars before getting my Westy and being VERY
nervous about tackling the dreded Head Gasket job I spent weeks collecting
everything I could find on the subject and came close to doubling the usual
volume of message traffic on the list. After the job was compleat I found
that I only used two of the vast pile of things I had gathered.
1. The Bentley
2. an article from Boston Engine available in the archives.
all the other stuff was more or less redundant. If you look to the Haynes
manual for guidence please note that the Haynes assumes that you will be
pulling the engine for the job and EVERYTHING they say to do assumes that
you have the engine on the bench.
One thing in particular they say is that if the cylinders are stuck to
the heads you can pull the cylinders with the heads and separate them later.
DO NOT DO THIS!!! If you do this you will have a lot of trouble putting the
cylinders back on as they will NOT slip on the piston rings and there is no
real way to get a ring compressor in there. There are some folks on the list
who have contrived a way to use some heavy wire wrapped around the rings and
then twisted to compress them. The cylinder is then worked past the first
ring and pushes the wire off as it goes on. The wire is then moved to the
second rings where the process is repeated. I am not sure of exactly what
they did so you might want to get details on how to do this "just in case".
Things I did that helped a lot was to take some masking tape and label
litterally everything (even the bolts) that came off the engine and to lay
all out on the garage floor in the order removed. Take some heavy cardboard
and punch 4 holes in it. Label one end of the card board "front" and the
other "rear". This holds the pushrods as they come out and tells you which
rod goes where as they go back in. Loot the wife's tupperware collection for
cups to hold screws, nuts and such.
One thing to keep in mind is that it is not unlikely that you will snap
off a bolt as you dismantle things. Before starting a job line up the
location of a machine shop that will remove these. Mine did it for about
$15/bolt while I waited.
While you have the exhaust off you should try to take off the oxygen
sensor to make sure it has not frozen itself to the pipe. It is something
that you will likely have to change some time and if it has welded itself in
place it is MUCH easyer to remove with the exhaust off where you can get at
it.
When you buy the gasket set make VERY sure you have the one that comes
with the two types of sealant you will need. It is very hard and very
expensive to get alone and, as far as I know, there is no real replacement
for it.
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of hugo lerner
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 1:51 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: head job
everyone,
i would like to attempt to do this head gasket job myself but i think i will
need more of a step by step description of the job.
the "bible" bentley is a good resource for description of parts, but it's
not very helpful for a halfwit mechanic like me trying to do a
professional's job.
any suggestions of any other manuals or resources that can explain this
procedure?
and while im doing this, should i just go further and replace heads and
anything else? and if i do attempt to change heads and what not, are there
better performing changes i can make (without compromising longevity of
course)
thanks for anyone's help.
hugo @ slc, utah
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