HELP!! :CYL Head Replacement

Lvnmarks

Lvnmarks

quandoomniflunkusmoritati
A while back my spark plug blew out of the head, so I Heli-coiled it back in and it lasted 10,000 miles or so. Well it popped again and this time I am just going to replace the head with another used head and a new gasket. This is my only car and would like to get running by tomorrow.

The cylinder head should be here in the next hour and hopefully get it torn down by tonight.


The problem is I have never done a cylinder head job on a OHV engine and could use some tips, other than a head gasket and intake gasket is there anything else I need? Is there a way to remove the head and not mess up the timing? What is the proper way to re-install it?

I know all this can be found by Google searching but I wanted to post up here first and I will be searching Google until the head gets here. If any local guys have done this before and want to stop by tonight, your more than welcome too. I have a heated garage.

Thanks Guys!
 
tixer

tixer

Lincoln Evangelist
woah.

Well, hey. have I got a deal for you. Although I'm up north right now, I'll be coming home tomorrow (I think) and will then be out of town all next week. You're totally welcome to borrow the '99 if this project doesn't go so well for you. Keep me posted.

As for your timing cover, I'd guess so? not that I'd ever done this, but I'll assume the chain has to come off before the head.
 
Lvnmarks

Lvnmarks

quandoomniflunkusmoritati
That would actually be awesome, the more I read into this the longer the job will take. Give me a call /text when you get home tomorrow. I am contemplating parking it in the garage and slowly fixing it. In the meantime just buying a Saturn to get me around, I've been want a commuter car for a while just have gone through with it.

I guess this is a sign.
 
tixer

tixer

Lincoln Evangelist
I might have a line on a cheap ('97) saturn for you too.. but the owner seems to think the transmission is failing. I haven't had the chance to drive it to confirm..
 
driller

driller

El Presidente
Lvnmarks said:
A while back my spark plug blew out of the head, so I Heli-coiled it back in and it lasted 10,000 miles or so. Well it popped again and this time I am just going to replace the head with another used head and a new gasket. This is my only car and would like to get running by tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Heli-coil or a Time-Sert?

If it was a heli-coil, I would definitely try a time-sert repair before replacing the head.
 
driller

driller

El Presidente
Lvnmarks said:
Isn't the time sert expensive?
Click to expand...
I just googled a kit on Amazon for like $68.

Cheaper than replacing the head, that's for sure!

I know they make an oversized kit for failed hell-coil repairs. You need to look into that.

We've had more than a couple trucks in our fleet over the years get a time-sert job done for around $200 complete if you want someone else to do it.
 
Lvnmarks

Lvnmarks

quandoomniflunkusmoritati
Update, I'm going to hold off on the head swap and just get a whole other engine. I will be picking one up tomorrow night for $185 and only as 147,000 (2004 LTC) on it. My curent motor has 199,000....Makes me kinda of sad that I didnt make 200,000 :( Progress to come...
 
Lvnmarks

Lvnmarks

quandoomniflunkusmoritati
Last night I bought a bunch of gaskets to replace while the engine is out and easy to get to. The following I have and will be doing, if you see anything that I should just avoid or something missing let me know.

-Oil pan gasket
-Oil filter adapter gasket
-Rear main seal
-Valve cover gasket
-T-stat and gasket
-Throttle body gasket
-Water pump gasket
-Exhaust manifolds and flange gaskets
-Autolite platinum spark plugs and some anti-seize
-Engine degreaser
-New coolant and 6qts of 10w30castrol oil w/Napa silver oil filter
-Block heater (600W)

If you can think of anything else I should be doing while the engine is out let me know?
 
driller

driller

El Presidente
Lvnmarks said:
-Oil pan gasket
-Oil filter adapter gasket
-Rear main seal
-Valve cover gasket
-T-stat and gasket
-Throttle body gasket
-Water pump gasket
-Exhaust manifolds and flange gaskets
-Autolite platinum spark plugs and some anti-seize
-Engine degreaser
-New coolant and 6qts of 10w30castrol oil w/Napa silver oil filter
-Block heater (600W)
Click to expand...
That should cover most potential issues except the intake/head gaskets. Although I generally avoid rear main seals unless they show signs of leakage.
 
Lvnmarks

Lvnmarks

quandoomniflunkusmoritati
The motor is %95 of the way from coming out but I believe I am missing a bolt somewhere. How many bolts are in the motor mounts? I removed one bolt from each and it's still lifting the car. It’s hard to tell from the pictures if I got the right ones.

Blue arrows are what I removed; the black is what I think I missed...thoughts?
 

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tixer

tixer

Lincoln Evangelist
my standard approach when taking anything apart: remove every screw I can see, pry on a loose edge and see where it sticks. then remove the screws I didn't see before...

:)
 
Lvnmarks

Lvnmarks

quandoomniflunkusmoritati
Update: both of the engines are on the ground, and I'm swapping over the various parts needed to drop a 2004 motor back into my car. I am running into a few small snags that a run to the part store can fix.

Got the new oil filter adapter gasket on, I'm also putting new motor mounts on.

In 1 of the pictures you can see 2 valve covers 1 of f the old motor and one from the new (left bank). I have to reuse the old 1 because the new 1 has a cracked cover

I am also installing a mark VIII torque converter just because I have 1 laying around, you can see the difference.

More progress to follow this week.
 

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Lvnmarks

Lvnmarks

quandoomniflunkusmoritati
Here is a few more pictures, first one is the cracked valve cover that came on the 04 motor. There appears to be no damage past the cover but I still have to use the old one which means I have to get different gaskets.....back to the parts store....again.

I'm trying to clean the engine as much as can but the block is just going to have to stay rusty. Hopefully tonight I can get the plugs in, other manifold, P/S pump, tensioner and get the other valve cover cleaned up and get the new one off the floor to install the 01 pan.

For future reference, to swap a 04 into an 01 you need to re-use:

Oil pan
Oil pick up tube
Fuel rails
Wire harness
Exhaust manifolds

An interesting note, while I was removing the intake on the 01 motor. I found one bolt missing in the intake, possibly causing me my bad idle with a vacuum leak.

I also installed a block heater (600 watt) and when I did the motor mount I had to use the 01 bolts because the 04 mounts are different.
 

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