Blessed With Head Gasket Leakage as Well...

Aurora By Olds · #1 (**permalink**) 10-26-03, 10:31 PM

Well, found out tonight the answer to my cooling system problem.
Head gaskets are bad on the N*.
I've got the manual, and have had quite a bit of experience with the good ole pushrod small block chevy engine, so I am most certainly going to be tackling this one myself.
I'm kind of leary about the DOHC timing and whatnot, but I have worked on a Quad 4 H.O., and resetting the timing and whatnot wasnt TOO bad on that one, I'll just have 2 more cams to deal with.
My first question, do all of the head threads need to be time-serted, or just ones that may have been pulled out?
What is the best way to tell if the threads in the block have been damaged?
The heads will be brought over to the local machiene shop to be tested for warpage and cracks as well.
I will probably be pulling the entire drivetrain out of the car, rather than trying to do it while its still intact (have heard of it done that way, but I guess its a real pain in the ass).
I do know I need new head bolts and gaskets.
Is there anything else for parts that I would need for this? I believe the intake and exhaust gaskets are re-useable.
Also, is there anything else I should check or replace while I've got the engine out and the heads off?
Any support you can give me will be appreciated, thanks in advance.

zonie77 · #2 (**permalink**) 10-26-03, 11:38 PM

there are a lot of old threads and a couple of fresh ones going around.
David_peak and I are in the process now. Look at the fresh threads first and most of your questions will be answered.
We dropped the cradle (I'm doing my brother's car with him). My thought was the cradle looked easier but Katshot and Growe3 say it's easier out the top. I've pulled FWD V6's out the top even though the manual said out the bottom but thought the N* needed to drop out.
About Timeserts, the recommendation is to do them all. Some of the old posts were from guys who were doing the final torqueing of the heads and had another thread strip out so off with the head and do it again. We are planning on doing all of them.
You found it just in time...you can do it before it goes below zero! We just dropped out of the 100's! We had 7 days of record temps , now it dropped into the 80's.

Aurora By Olds · #3 (**permalink**) 10-27-03, 12:33 AM

I would rather drop the engine out the bottom. I'm really used to doing it that way, and I have all of the tools.
The other threads have pretty much answered any other questions I had. The only one I was unsure of was the time-serts. Thanks for your reply though, as you said, it is a good idea to do all of them, just in case.
Also, I won't be tackling the project for another few months. Running it as of right now won't hurt the engine, but I will be keeping close eye on it. As soon as I finish my secondary vehicle, I will tackle the head job.
It wont be bad for me when it hits below 0 here, I have a 30x40 heated garage with just about every tool under the sun

Until I tackle the project, however, I will be doing my homework. I would also like to know how yours turn out as well.

zonie77 · #4 (**permalink**) 10-27-03, 12:57 AM

Do you have a lift? I've got the plans at the bldg dept for a 40x50 garage, 13' walls , but don't have the approval yet. I'll let you know how the car goes.
Here's some info on the timeserts:

http://caddyinfo.netgetgoing.com/howto/nsrepair.htm

caddyinfo site has a bunch of other info so check them out.

Aurora By Olds · #5 (**permalink**) 10-27-03, 11:01 AM

I only have 10' walls, but I have a 2 ton comealong on an A frame with wheels that is wide enough to fit a car between, so I can pretty much get anything up to about 9' with no prob, and then move it out of the way when I'm done. I also have a large set of homemade "ramps" that will allow the whole car to be raised about 1.5ft off the ground. So until I get a lift, I'm pretty well set.
I've also been through the link you sent, zonie. I like the way it was documented, and the info it provides, but it never really does say why he starts out with: "Well, even though this repair turned out to be a fairly big waste of time, .... "
It would be nice to know what ever came of it, and why it was a waste of time.
But thanks for the info.

zonie77 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-27-03, 02:39 PM

I don't know why they said that as the block was useless without it.

Maybe the person who said that felt only the bad threads should be fixed but I don't agree with that. That would fit in with taking your car in at 95K with a bad plug and they only replace that bad one.