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Advice for pulling my head?

2K views 19 replies 14 participants last post by  monoxidechild 
#1 ·
Whats the best advice anyone can give me for pulling my head, besides take my time? I've decided I'd rather take it off myself and deliver it to a machine shop for rethreading rather than pay Mazda $400+ to do the same thing is a less timely fashion.

For anyone who has done it, how long did it take you and what advice do you have for me?
 
#2 ·
are you reusing the T-belt? I"d say becareful when you take the cam out not to knick the lobes...something I've always been told.

Also, I'd try to drain as much of the coolant out of the system as you can, that way there isn't as big of a mess when you "break the seal" as you take off the head. I'd be prepared to have new vacuum hoses ready for when you put it back on, as they old ones will probably crumble or crack when you take them off.

Also, take the head studs out in reverse order that it says to put them in (with my "nissan" cars, it's tighten to 20 ftlb, then 50lb, loosen to 30ftlb, then to 50 ft lb... and in a certain pattern.) Check the FSM, or chiltons/haynes.. If you don't do it correctly, you risk warping the head...which if it's going off to the machine shop, may or may not be a big deal to you..

EDIT>> I think the pattern (reversed) is loosen them from the outside working inward, alternating sides.
 
#3 ·
grab ahold of both ears and yank...8D jusk kidding... you might want to run by an auto parts shop and pick up new headbolts as well in case they're a torque to yeild bolt.
 
G
#4 ·
This is what I wrote back when SickSix6 needed information on it.


Basic headgasket procedure: (I'm assuming your just doing the headgasket so I'm not going to explain how to remove the intake manifold from the head)

1. Drain your oil and coolant.
2. Remove your upper and lower radiator hoses, unplug the radiator fan and undo the two upper radiator mounts. Pull the radiator out and set it somewhere safe.
3. PB Blast your manifold bolts, and O2 Sensor housing bolts.
4. Undo the 8 10mm valve cover bolts.
5. Undo the thermostat housing and the distributor. Without letting the distributor rotate, pull it out of the head.
6. Remove your timing belt cover, Use whiteout to draw a line on the top of your timing belt all the way to a tooth on the timing gear.
7. Untension your timing belt and slip it off the gear.
8. Under the 14mm bolts on your manifold and O2 sensor housing. Take it off and store it somewhere safe.
9. Get under your car and undo the two 14mm bolts on your intake manifold support bracket. Under to other two on the bottom (This is a PITA and you'll have to remove your oil filter most likely to get a wrench large enough to have the torque to do it in there, or just use a bunch of extensions).
10. Unbolt the 8 14mm bolts that hold your rocker arm assembly on. Lift it off and make sure everything stays in order.
11. Undo your head bolts, a little at time in this order:

1 5 9 8 4
2 6 10 7 3

12. Lift the head off the engine, you may need to lightely tap one on the bottom of the intake manifold or an exhaust stud (wrap it on cloth first) with a hammer to get the head to come free. Don't hit the head as it is soft aluminum.

13. Rock the head back (You'll have to undo your fuel line and a few vac lines of the intake manifold most likely) and inspect around the valves for small hairline cracks. If you see them. Its time for a new head.

14. Peel the old shot gasket off the block. Use a gasket scraper to clean it smooth.

15. Put the new gasket in place. Reinstall everything. Ideally you would want to take the Intake manifold, cam, and timing cover off and have the head resurfaced but thats up to you. (I did just to be safe).

16. When you come to the timing belt, line up the white marks to make sure your timing is correct, same goes for the distributor.


This was all by memory, there may be a few things missing/incorrect. Expect to spend a full day. It took me a week with me working fulltime
 
#5 ·
Awesome, that will get my moving in the right direction fast. Thanks for the tips guys. At first I was so bummed out but now I have realized I'll get to know the car so much better and have all my exhaust mainifold threads working for the turbos sake.
 
#6 ·
just take the valve over off, and go nuts. Dont loose anything. Its not a hard task. Just undo the friggin bolts and dont be a lil girl about it. Your a man take the head off. Dive right in for real.
 
#7 ·
Hahaha, thats exactly what my dad said when I talked to him last night. He said "dont wet your pants when you think about taking it all apart, this is a good experience for you so enjoy it" and I just couldnt stop laughing at how blunt he was.
 
#8 ·
I'll go ahead and throw my two cents in:

Take your time and bag/label everything. Seriously. I was anxious to tear everything apart, and some stuff is STILL apart. [project GT]. Its a whole bunch of fun once you get down to the nuts and bolts of how an engine works. It was my "first time" seeing the valves and pistons, very cool stuff. Its not rocket science, just a matter of applying yourself and staying organized.

good luck man!
 
#9 ·
Hey I am not so sure about the whole list of stuff. Personally
I would Not do #s 2,5,8,9,10, (13?) . Leave the intake in the car,
undo those bolts with your right hand working from the pass side
using a couple long extentions ,get all 7 bolts/studs.
If you can ,pull the ex mani turbo o2 housing all at once by undoing mani bolts and 3 down pipe bolts (PB blast these 3 or they may snap)(and turbo plumbing) If you remove all these bolts you should be able to move the turbo forward out of the way. Pull the dist and take the upper rad hose off the thermo housing. Dont pull the rocker assmb. off no need to. Get the head repaired and use proper length grade 8 bolts on the exhaust side. You may need to tweak the intake brace to get it all back together. Also start by setting the motor at firing on #1 cyl. (not rock over). Really you should try to pull the head out from between everything else.Take your time and dont force anything! You can reuse the head bolt. IMHO
 
#10 ·
Guess I should mention/ask... after doing this, does the timing need set? Guess I need to find the box with my car stuff in it at the house ):

This is a project I'd like to do myself, but there's several auto tech schools around, might be better off taking it to them to use as a project, rather than risking the only car I have that I like ):
 
#11 ·
I left the intake in the car when i did it on my LX. I just unbolted it and pushed it to the firewall. You will have to remove the exhaust manifold/turbo (too heavy to hang off the dipstick) and that's a little bit of a pain. Dont forget about the 2 cooling lines behind the turbo and make sure you buy new ones.

And yeah you'll need to set the timing, which is pretty easy.
 
#14 ·
No shit, whats up with these 5-6 year old threads getting bumped for no reason. How are people even finding this stuff?!?
 
#16 ·
Just unbolt the intake manifold from the head, and pull the head out, while leaving the intake manifold laying in the engine bay. There is a ton of vacuum lines and other hose on the intake manifold, and if your not familiar with them, its easy to get them confused. So its easier just to leave them all still hooked up, and just unbolt the manifold from the head. ;)
 
#17 ·
If you pull it off correct you should only have 5 vac lines that will be removed the one from the bpv, the one from the air box and the 3 from the black canister on the passanger side. I have alwaysed removed my im when pulling off the head.

You will need to unbolt the bracket with the 2 solenoids and the egr control solenoid valve off the fire wall.

Dont forget ytou will have to do the lower heater hose, return fuel line as well as the fuel feedline and break booster line.

My hands are to big and it makes it hard to get to the IM bolts. If the head has never been off you will need to undo one of the lower IM bolts as the oil feed line is bolted to it.
 
#18 ·
Leave the intake in the car, all you need to do is;
-Undo the intake and exhaust manifold fasteners and the intake and exhaust manifold brace fasteners.
-Undo the EGR pipe nut on the exhaust manifold and lever the pipe out of the manifold.
-Then you should be able to lever the manifolds away from the head enough to get the head off.

You need a good socket set with a stubby ratchet and combination or open-end spanners.
A long socket extension (12" +) will help for the braces.
A pry bar or 2 will help with levering the manifolds away and breaking the head gasket seal.

When you get back onto to reassembly use copper gasket sealant spray on both sides of the gasket and the mating surfaces of the block and head.
This will all but eliminate any chance of coolant leaks, even with a cheap head gasket.
It's a good idea on the manifold gaskets too.
 
#19 ·
Good replies, although the jury seems to be split on leaving the IM or pulling it with the head.

I went towards leaving the IM bolted to the head initially, and didn't want to pull the EGR line as it conflicted with the hard oil return from the turbo manifold. I couldn't lift the head off (with the IM) without needing to interrupt that oil return so, i went back to leaving the IM in the car.

Yeah, the one lower drivers' side IM bolt with the oil line clamp was already removed but still, the EGR pipe resides below it so the IM staying with the head would not work... even though i screwed the EGR pipe out of the exhaust already.

I'm about to upload some pics about some concerns involving WTF is going on with my head gasket "issues" as per my findings...

After overheating the motor last month, it had a stumbling idle and only started easily when cold. But once running (rather hot running admittedly) the car ran as normal. Good acceleration, normal boost, etc.

Ran a comp check before pulling the head and readings were within 10 of each other.

No oil in the coolant anywhere, no coolant in the oil anywhere. :shrug:
 
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