Emickelsen

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm headin out to get some of that gasket remover today. I did a little research and WD40 seems to be another stand by. Tried it last night, and it seemed to work pretty good with a short soaking. I've had them soaking all night now, i'll let you know the results.

Interesting question. I meant to take some pic's of those but forgot. Looking at the area where I saw the leak befor the project, the gasket looked intact. The whole gasket looked like hell, it was in real bad shape. However there didn't seem to be any place along the edge that was obviously damaged, which has me a little worried. I'll clean them off a bit and post some pictures.

SharkSkin

+1 on the plastic razor blades. I don't remember where I bought them, but I picked up a box of 1,000 for about 10 bucks a few years back -- probably a lifetime supply. Definitely avoid any sort of abrasive or metal tool when cleaning the mating surfaces. Chemicals and plastic only. If WD-40 is working, mineral spirits may work better. After all, WD-40 is basically a mix of mineral spirits and mineral oil.

Emickelsen

Head #1 is done and ready to be installed (pic 1). Took me all day and about 6 different auto part stores, but it's done. Thanks Dave, I agree. However no plastic known to man would have got those gaskets off. WD40 didn't work as well as I had first thought. Mineral spirits might have done the trick. I couldn't find any of the CRC Gasket Remover anywhere, and I didn't want to wait to order it. I ended up using the gasket scraper at the bottom of the picture. It was the only thing that worked at all. I was nervous as hell, but I took my time and made sure I didn't do any damage. I feel it came out just fine. When I was done I took the Acetone and the green scrub pad and cleaned the surface up as good as I could. I also took the scraper to the bottom of the head and gave it a real light and quick scraping. Picture #2 is what the heads looked like before I got started. Luckily on that one all but one of the intake gaskets came off.

Picture #3 is the old head gaskets. The circle on the bottom one is where I would have expected to see some form of failure. That is where I saw it leaking from the engine. All I can figure is that it failed between layers. It's also ripped above the second cylinder hole, but that was done on removal.

On to the second head, and time for reassembly!

Randy R

You say your having trouble passing smog, Turn the heads upside down with the valves facing up fill the combustion chambers with water (you will need the spark plugs in so the water dosent drain out) then take a rag and an air blower nosel from an air compressor and put them in the ports for your intake and exhaust and blow the air the rag should plug the rest of the port so the air dosen't just blow out look at your valves while blowing if you see a lot of bubbles coming out then your valve seats are shot and you will need a valve job. They shoulden't be bad with only 80k mi but would be an easy to check and if that was the problem i'd hate to have to tear it down again.

Mrmerlin

if you have the heads off you should by all means refurbish the heads,
and have new valve seals installed,
and cut the seats if need be,
and check the guides for wear,
and check the valve springs for correct tension,
And have the heads flycut for a fresh mating surface

namasgt

When you have a hole on your head gasket, which you clearly have from the pics, it very well means there is a hole on the head too from corrosion. I do not know if the holes will continue to grow if you don't have them cleaned, re welded, and resurfaced. But if I was doing a head gasket change at the minimum I would have the head resurfaced, in Texas it costs around $35 to $50 for resurfacing each head, welding is about $100 for both heads. Your head gaskets are showing corrosion holes close to where the combustion sealing ring on the head gasket seals, I would have that re welded by a professional.
I would not try to clean hard carbon with the pistons in, because carbon particles could get wedged between the cylinder wall and piston resulting in a scratch on the Alusil bore.

That plastic razor is a great idea if it works, didn't even know they existed. Will need to try that my self.

Emickelsen

I think I have the wrong tensioner, or part there of. I got the new water pump installed, and was messing around with the fit of the tensioner. First, when I put the smaller roller on the water pump, it does not turn freely. The back of it rubbs in the water pump. Then when I put the tensioner roller and arm on, it only has about 1/2 inch of play side to side. Is that enough to tighten the timing belt?

The bolt holding the roller on the arm (red circle) hits the engine block. I tried putting a little shim behind the small roller, but then nothing moves. The shim I used is one of the extra seals from the cam tower plugs. You can also see where the old timing belt was rubbing on the back of the tensioning arm (black arrow).

Is that a normal bolt holding the larger tensioning roller on, and could I just grind it down? Could I just grind down the back of the smaller roller?

The other problem is that when I hold the tensioning assembly in place, the push rod does not align up right. It sits at an angle like it did befor I started removing things. SOMETHING ain't right there. My WSM isn't real clear on the tensioner.

Emickelsen

Got most of the engine back together, just waiting on a few parts. I know I'm asking a lot of questions, I REALLY REALLY appreciate y'alls patients and input. THANK YOU!!!

I have new engine mounts coming. Looks like an easy installation, however, do I have to take out the steering to get at the bolt undernethe the crossmember, or is it accessable?

I am also waiting on the tensioner gasket. Once I get that, I can install the timing belt. Quick question on that. When I turn the cam to align it up with TDC, it won't stay there. The valve springs push on it and advance the cam. Have I installed the cam tower wrong? I didn't take either the head or the cam apart. Is there a trick to aligning up the sprocket? (sry haven't done a search yet, will do that next)

Lastly, can anyone tell me what the tube in the picture is for? It is screwed in to the exaust header, runs up the back of the engine, and is capped off above the cam tower. Doesn't seem to be doing anything. The problem is that where the circle is, the tube is cracked. Almost completely broken (another possible exaust leak?). If it's doing nothing, why can't I just cap it off at the manifold?

Emickelsen

I also learned a lesson in patients today when I went to reinstall the cam tower. I put the gasket on, and none of the holes aligned up. I ASSUMED the printed side went up. AH ****!! I didn't know what to do, so I got everything out and prepared, including a brand new exacto blade, to recut the alignment holes. Something I didn't feel right doing. So I took a while to think about it. I tried both gaskets on both sides to see if they would fit any better. still no luck. I figured it was a good picture opportunity, so I went to get the camera. As I was walking in the house, it hit me. DU!! flip them over. Sure enough, it worked. Lesson learned? If it don't look right, it probably isn't. I could have possibly ruined those gaskets, and had to spend more money, and wait several days to order new gaskets. Thank goodness I stoped and thought about it for a while.

Stromius

That tube is an exhaust sampler. You can remove it and use a ball bearing and lug nut to plug the opening on the exhaust header.

Hkp7

I had a problem with my timing belt rubbing against the idler arm and it happened to be an incorrectly sized spacer behind the pivot point. My piston rode at an angle as well. The spacer is quite thick.

Mrmerlin

what kind of work have you done to the heads?
Did you have a valve job done?
Did you get them welded?
Did you get them flycut?

jeff spahn

I got flycut, but I was only a baby and don't remember it.

jcorenman

Yes, you need to drop the rack to get to the lower engine-mount bolts. Remove the two hydraulic lines (and get four new copper sealing washers), remove the five big bolts and four (IIRC) little ones, and let the rack hang down. You don't need to undo the tie-rods or steering shaft.

Uhmmm, green scrubbies are not a good idea... they are quite abrasive. A scraper is OK on most gasket surfaces if you are very careful, but head gaskets are under a lot of pressure and the surface flatness is critical-- hence the advice to lightly machine the sealing surface to make sure it is dead flat.

Landseer

Did you figure out the issue on your tensioner arm?