[Apoidea]

How long? A two or three day job? I have not done any major work yet, but I'm going to treat this like I'm back in college (arrrrgh!) by studying before my *exam* in June. Hopefully that approach will work. I don't need to replace it now, but sometime soon.
At first I thought about selling it rather than doin that, but after some thinkin I'm bent on the idea of doin myself. Hell, I might as well fix other stuff while I'm at it--like polishing the intake manifold and cleaning lifters,etc. Plus that way I can use the money I saved to throw in a VR6 exhaust and hood insulation, window tint and so on.
It would be nice if anyone with experience doing this can share any advice, info or other comments with me

 

[Clean97GTi]

Re: Who has replaced their head gasket? (Apoidea)

Label every hose you take off. Oh, and have a shop manual handy. Bentley or Haynes is a good investment. Keep everything clean.

 

[speed51133]

Re: Who has replaced their head gasket? (Clean97GTi)

for the 1st time, it took me like an afternoon, and into the night a bit.
its easy, just many steps.
if i had known that the 3 gears the timing belt turns ALL afftect the timing, it would have taken me MUCH less time. Being a dumbass, i did not know the distributor's rotor is turned by the gear that looks like the cam gear.
You have to make sure the cam gear, the flywheel arrow, and the distributor's gear(or the rotor), are all pointing in the right spot.
aside from that, taking off the radiator hoses are the hardest part. the AC compressor is in the way, but you can always loose that POS at the same time!

 

[spitpilot]

Re: Who has replaced their head gasket? (speed51133)

Get a copy of the Bentley manual and read head R&R section a few times. Make a list of the stuff you should change while you've got everything apart. Like:
Gaskets, head, manifiolds, valve cover etc.
Camshaft oil seal
Timing belt and tensioner (if not recently changed)
Serp belt, power steering v belt (if not recently changed)
Spark plugs & wires (ez to change while manifold is off, unless just done)
You should allow a full day to do this job right, include cleaning deposits out of cyl head and tops of pistons. If you clean piston tops, make sure you allow no carbon particles to fall into crack between pistons and cly walls, carbon can score cyl walls. Old trick is to put piston you're going to clean at TDC then fill crack with heavy grease B4 cleaning. Grease will trap carbon and hold it, you just run piston down after cleaning and wipe up grease with all the carbon particles in it. As far as timing goes, my trick there is to mark a notch on the belt and corresponding gear tooth on each gear (cam, crank, intermediate shafts). Then transferr the marks from the old belt to new (if you're changin belt) line up the marks on install and you've got dead nuts on timing every time (pun intended)...just make sure you don't flip belt over...keep it in the same relation to engine (mark engine side of belt to be sure). Good luck! http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif

 

[Apoidea]

Re: Who has replaced their head gasket? (spitpilot)

Thanks for the heads up--all the other work has been done, so all I will do is the head gasket plus some cleaning and carbon removal. I have yet to do any work besides tune-up things and brake pad replacement but if I study up I'm sure I can do it on a Saturday, specially now that I have a garage http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif