ready to remove the head

There was plenty of good weather today, so I spent most of the day taking apart the engine and getting ready to remove the head.

I started off by blocking the rear wheels, jacking up the front end of the truck, and putting jack stands under the front crossmember. Jack stands are important since I'll be putting a lot of torque on the truck when removing bolts and such. I then drained the radiator into a big Tupperware container (the kind that's used to store stuff in closets and whatnot) by loosening the petcock a few turns. I noted that there was no oil in the coolant at all.

Next, I removed the air cleaner from the carburetor, disconnected the choke cable from the carb, and tied the choke cable and manual throttle cable (that hadn't been connected) up out of the way. I then removed the cotter pin holding the bottom of the throttle rod (that goes between the mechanisms attached to the pedal and the carburetor) to the hinge assembly that's attached to the lower part of the engine. I used vise grips for this, and photographed the cotter pin against graph paper so I can pick the right size of cotter pin to replace it. I then disconnected the front end of the throttle return spring from where it connects to a little rod between the throttle rod bracket and the push-rod extending from the gas pedal. Some tin foil was used to cover up the top of the carb to keep stuff from falling into the throat. I then removed the gas and vacuum lines from the carburetor, using two wrenches to keep the brass fittings in the carburetor. I un-twisted the wire that I'd been using to hold the gas line up against the water outlet, and moved the fuel line and vacuum line out of the way.

My neighbor stopped by to ask for some help working on her car -- her brother was trying to get to an oil sensor or something on the back of the engine in her late-model sedan, but couldn't reach it. I couldn't reach it either, but we talked about how much easier it is to work on old cars than these newer ones. He told me that I needed to use a Permatorx (I think that's what he said) head gasket when I replaced mine. He also said that it was important to tap all of the bolt holes in the head, and thoroughly clean all of the bolts, and to put no threadlocker or anti-seize or anything on the bolts when I put them back into the block. The old-timer also said that I should use some sandpaper wrapped around a block of wood to smooth off the top of the block, then clean off the block with some carb cleaner and just let it evaporate so the top of the block is as clean as possible.

Back at work -- I took off the end of the fuel line and the fuel filter, noticing some silvery junk coming out of the input side of the fuel filter. That's no good, but at least the filter's catching it. I hope it's not from the inside of the tank, from when I sealed it.

Next to go were the 9/16" bolts holding on the exhaust manifold to the engine. I pulled all of them, setting them on a shelf in the garage in their proper order and orientation. The manifold gasket is in three sections -- the center section popped out after the manifold bolts were out, so I photographed it on both sides for documenting purposes and set it aside. I then pulled the manifold off of the engine dowels, so now it's just resting kind of on the alternator and hanging by the exhaust pipe hanger under the cab. I peeled off the front and rear sections of the manifold gasket and set them aside in the proper order and orientation. The gaskets will be replaced, but I'll hang on to them until I get new ones.

The manual said to remove the intake manifold pilot sleeves, but I don't know what those are, and I can't see anything that might be them. So I skipped that step.

I then pulled the top radiator hose, which will probably need to be replaced. There was a lot of nasty rust and goo on the top of the water outlet on the engine. The manual didn't mention it, but I also removed the heater inlet & outlet hoses from the water outlet and thermostat assembly (I think it wasn't in the manual because the heater was a dealer option). I noted that the outer hose goes to the thermostat assembly, and the inner hose goes to the water outlet. I then had to remove the two bolts holding the thermostat/water outlet assembly onto the block; the right bolt was covered in black goo that had to be wiped off before I could get a socket on it. I could then pull the thermostat/water outlet assembly, which was pretty nasty looking, and had some kind of gooey sealant stuff on it where it attached to the engine block.

The manual said to remove the battery ground strap from the cylinder block, but mine bolts to the bell housing at the rear of the engine, so I skipped that step.

I then removed the four 7/16" bolts holding the rocker arm cover onto the block, which I noticed had very little torque on them -- the rocker arm assembly isn't structural at all, so that makes sense. A few taps on the rocker cover with a rubber mallet knocked it loose and I pulled it off with its attached cork gasket.

I then wrote down the wiring of all of the spark plug wires to the distributor and pulled the spark plug wires. The spark plugs came out next, and I was glad that my old roommate Travis told me to put anti-sieze on the plugs, since they all came out easily except for #2. Plugs 1, 2, and 3 were covered in lots of carbon. Plugs 4 and 6 were fairly clean, and #5 had a bit of carbon deposit on it. Plug #2 was corroded in place and took some doing to get loose.

Next, I noted where the coil wires were attached (brown on the rear + terminal, green and white to the front - terminal) and removed them from the coil. I then removed the rear coil mounting bolt, then the front coil mounting bolt, and then set the coil aside on the workbench. I had to remove the rear bolt first because the front bolt wouldn't unscrew all the way otherwise, as it was blocked by the adjusting screw for the coil bracket.

The temperature sensor came out next, again using two wrenches to keep the brass fitting in the block, and I tied it up out of the way.

Next, the six 9/16" bolts holding the rocker arm assembly to the head came out. Bolt #4 had a flat washer on it, but none of the other ones did. I then pulled off the rocker arm assembly and placed it on a piece of cardboard on the floor of the garage. It was neat to see the simple lubrication system on this old engine. I then pulled out the 12 push rods and placed them on another piece of cardboard on the workbench. I scored the cardboard so the push rods would sit on it without rolling, to keep them in their proper order. The manual then said to remove the valve lifters, but I couldn't figure out how to get them off, so I figured I'd better not try to force them and just keep going.

There was a good bit of oil covering the top of the block (as would be expected), so I wiped it down to make it less of a mess to remove. I noticed there was some thicker goop atop the block mixed in with the oil. Not sure what that was. I started to remove the head bolts, then realized that I should probably drain the oil first to avoid creating a Superfund site in the driveway. Once again, the oil was a nasty grey color. I didn't tighten the oil drain plug all the way after it was drained, since I'll need to put in a new crush washer before tightening it.

Now that the oil was out of the way, I pulled the 3/4" bolts holding on the head. I placed them on a piece of cardboard in the proper order so I can see how to put them back in. The rearmost center bolt had a good deal of water beading on its shaft, but none of the other bolts did. I'll pay close attention to what's going on near that bolt hole when I get into the head.

Once the bolts were removed, I gave the head a few whacks with a rubber mallet to shake it loose. That didn't do a thing, which in retrospect makes sense since it's really really heavy. So then I used the mallet to squeeze a big flatblade screwdriver into a little gap that I saw between the head and the block near the rear of the right side. Once the screwdriver was in there, I levered up the head, and coolant went everywhere. So I threw an old blanket on the ground under the length of the engine, and pulled up again to clear out the coolant.

So now I can slide the head around on the block (which I thought I wouldn't be able to do - shouldn't there be some dowels or something to guide the head onto the block?), but it's really really heavy. I can't lift it myself, so I'm going to ask a co-worker if he has a hoist I could borrow or if he would mind helping me lift off the head.

I called it a day -- the sun had gone down around 5 pm (damn Daylight Savings Time) and it was pretty chilly already. I covered the head with tin foil to keep debris out, then covered that with a tarp to keep moisture out. I threw a towel over the push rods on the workbench to keep spiders and debris out, and wrapped up the rocker arm assembly with a drop cloth.

So my plan, once I get the head off, is to clean it up, inspect the head gasket, and then take it to a machine shop to get Magnafluxed for cracks. I'll also get the valve seats replaced with hardened ones since my Dad told me that he never got around to doing that when he started running unleaded in Peanut. My Dad asked if I'd get the head bored over as well, but I don't want to take the extra time to do the bigger cylinder thing.

Alright, time to go celebrate Halloween.