It's out. Should I go ahead and do it (Head Gasket ?'s)

[CShroom]

Morning all, (Cuz that's what time it is here.)

Picked up the motor in Vegas from Dave. It was originally a California car and it is being re-habbed to go into Tersta's '77.

We are doing clean up and gasket replacement for pretty much everything before I set it down inside. The reasoning is this...

It is out, and that engine compartment is cramped. Neither of us particularly relish the idea of fixing any leaks once it is in. That means we are taking it down to almost a bare block.

Here is the current debate. Since we are this far down, should we do the Head gasket for cheap insurance, or are we asking for added and unnecessary grief?

We are cleaning and checking all the supplied smog stuff as well as what smog stuff came with her car and will be putting the correct pieces on it. But we want to make sure that

A. it will pass visual and real emissions tests.
B. it will be relatively reliable.

We are veering to the idea of doing the head gasket replacement while we have it torn down and on an engine stand. But would like to get everyone's take on it.

[So Cal Mark]

definitely replace the head gasket

[CShroom]

Working from home can be great.

We have the head off. Other than old carbon buildup on the pistons, there is still crosshatch. So a little scuff to knock the crud off the piston tops and then off to clean out the heads. We are going to finish a scrub down on the block before we put it all back together.

Pics will be coming soon.

[engineerted]

Sounds like a good time to replace the water pump also.

Ted

[CShroom]

OK gotta dilemma.

Head is off, and then we realized that it probably would have been a good idea to have loosened the crankshaft nut when it was all together.

And we have read here, it seems like this will be quite the ordeal.

Anyone have an ideas on how to get this nut off while the motor is pulled apart?

One thing I have mentioned was getting the head back on and filling a cylinder with some rope to hold everything in place. Would this case any damage?

The other thing is to drag it off the engine stand and trying to devise a way to use the flywheel bolts to hold it in place.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[spiderrey]

An air gun should do the trick, Ive done it before. Hold the front pully while wearing a thick mechanic glove. Then hit it with the air gun. Done.

[CShroom]

Thanks Spiderrey,

After doing some reading here, I was expecting the absolute worst. Instead it only took a little bit of work to knock it loose.

All the pulleys are off. water pump and a few more incidentals are on their way. We see the light at the end of the tunnel. Just hoping it isn't a train.

[CShroom]

Another possibly dumb question here.

The motor is slowly coming together. But I am wondering about when we get ready to install everything back in the Spider.

I have to drop the trans anyway because of a questionable 4th gear. Is it easier to install everything as a single unit, or is it better to install the motor and transmission separately?

[engineerted]

My two cents, Drop it in as an assembly, Engine(minus head) with the transmisson (gear shift extension removed) and starter bolted to trans. This gives you alot of room to swing that baby in.

Ted

[CShroom]

So the head get in the way pretty badly then? I had actually planned on putting the head on to do some dry runs before dropping it in.

With the head on, how bad of an ordeal does it make it?

[engineerted]

IT will fit with the head on, but it is a tight, I have done it both ways.

Ted