44 replies to this topic

[mattbrown]

i do indeed,

right, what exactly tools wise do i need to this job myself, i think im going to give it go

[mini danny]

Yeah as Dan says, half a days job at the most and it means you can put everything back how it should without it being damages by a garage rushing the job :)

AND it is alot cheaper.

and you get the satifaction fromt doing it yourself to

[mini danny]

i do indeed,

right, what exactly tools wise do i need to this job myself, i think im going to give it go

11mm 13mm 14mm and 15mm sockets torque wrench few spanners


danny

[thebullet]

Yeah as Dan says, half a days job at the most and it means you can put everything back how it should without it being damages by a garage rushing the job :)

AND it is alot cheaper.

and you get the satifaction fromt doing it yourself to

Exactly! keeps you busy and you gain experience from it too!

if you do do it yourself, just make sure that all mating surfaces like the head are spotless and clean so that the gasket can seal well...

Also, I would clean the cylinders out too whilst you have the head off.

A tip that I did was to smear greace around the inside of the bores so that any crap falling down to the cylinders wont get caught and scratch the block.

Just then make sure to clean all the greace off.

They are fairly easy to clean up too!



Cleaned them 2 at a time! came up well for 1983 cylinders :)

Have fun!

[mattbrown]

right im going to give it a go, i just have to hope that the garage havent started work on it yet, as it could get a bit awkward when ive given them the go ahead and then i turn up to do the job myself.

[thebullet]

If you have a haynes manual and you follow that step by step there isn't much that can go wrong!

[Broomer]

Just make sure that after fitting the gasket that you re torque the head down..

I used to do this 2 or 3 times to ensure the head it torqued down nice and even, it is suprising how much the torque values will vary from one bolt to another after being ran up.

Failure to do so will result in premature gasket failure, trust me it is rather frustrating changing a gasket you only replaced a month ago.

[mini danny]

Just make sure that after fitting the gasket that you re torque the head down..

I used to do this 2 or 3 times to ensure the head it torqued down nice and even, it is suprising how much the torque values will vary from one bolt to another after being ran up.

Failure to do so will result in premature gasket failure, trust me it is rather frustrating changing a gasket you only replaced a month ago.

i can vouch they i had to replace mine 2 weeks after because i had a water leak and it boiled over was because of torque but was still a pain in the ass !!

[lrostoke]

It doesn't mention this in the Haynes, But I saw it in a youtube video and it makes sense.

Before you torque the head down, slacken off all the tappets wind the adjuster screws out . The pressure of the valve springs could give false torque readings, now this may be hogwash but it takes 5 minutes so doesn't hurt :)





And actually the socket sizes will all be imperial not metric as mentioned, although those metric sizes will be about right.

7/16"
1/2 "
9/16"
5/8"

[mattbrown]

thanks very much for all your help, will get the car back tomorrow and make a start on it. will let you know how i get on

Matt

[A362 TTU]

how is your bypass hose + water pump?

When i had to replace my head gasket i did the water pump + bypass while i was there because i didnt know their age (could have been on there years and years before i got the car) and its an easy job without the head on.

[thebullet]

Good point actually, if you really want to go to town you could strip your carb down and clean it up.

But this means the car being off the road longer and if you havn't done that thing before it could be tricky.

It is also nice to clean the rockers too. There is so much you can do when changing a headgasket whilst everything is off.

[mattbrown]

ahh thats not a bad idea, howgudami, to be honest i have no idea how long they have been on as i've only had the car less than six months. could well be a good idea to change them also just as a precaution

[mattbrown]

i would like to do as much as possible really while the head is off, the idea is to make the car as reliable as possible as i use it everyday for an 80 mile commute and at the moment it just keeps breaking down. And the carb has caused trouble in the past so it may well be due a good clean. I do need the car back on the road by Monday ideally so i will see what i can do once i have the head off.

[thebullet]

could drain the coolant and flush the radiator too if you want.

If you get yourself in gear you could have it done by monday :)