Help with head gasket job

Any word, Pete?

-C

Have another head lined up Pete if you can't get me an answer. I want/need to move forward on this, as I hate having the van down and out. I would rather deal with someone I sort of know from here rather than an online retailer though. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Chris

Bump. Any word, Pete?

Any word, Pete?

-C

So I got a new cylinder head today in the mail. Never done this job before. I removed the head with the intake manifold still attached, is it okay to put the new one on with the intake on it? I ask because it will make my life a lot easier doing it that way as the van has some space issues on that side of the engine bay. Also the new head bolts I got didn't come with new washers, is it okay to re-use the old ones? Any other tips you guys can give me for a job like this?

Chris

If you got it off with the intake attached, I don't see any reason you can't put it back on that way and make your life easier. You may want to take a few minutes looking at your pile of parts to make sure there isn't anything else that can go on before the head and save you some headache as well.

Reusing the washers is OK.

Make sure you coat the new head bolts in oil before putting them in unless the manufacturer specifically says otherwise, most torque ratings are for lubricated threads.

Oh yeah I forgot to ask about the cooling system. The radiator looks kind of gross on the inside where i can see a few of the tubes (top to bottom flow), but the van never overheated in the short amount of time I drove it before the problem. Now maybe that was due to there not being a thermostat in the system, but would you guys have the radiator proffesionally cleaned or just replace it? I plan on removing one of the remaining heater hoses (dual heat system) and running fresh water throught it to flush out as much of the nasty stuff that I can, but the block will still have some in it. Should I just put it back together with only water in the system, and run it like that for a bit to get some of the remaining oil out, and then put coolant in there? Will oil in the cooling system create major headaches in the future? How would one go about ensuring it is all out of so?

Chris

Bump.

I would replace the rad if they are not expensive.

Run watter at first and flush a couple times.

The prestone flush kids are good.

I have also dissolved TSP in to hot water and then added it to the cooling system and it gets a lot of gunk out of the systems.

Otherwise I would just flush it several teams with water before adding antifreeze.

If you have a radiator shop nearby ask them how much to have it 'gone through'. They may want to just clean it up and straighten fins or recore it. Either way it'll probably be cheaper and faster than buying a new one online.

So I berkeleyed up the head gasket while trying to put the head and intake on as a unit by myself. I guess I should have waited until I had a friend to help me out as I didn't have it lined up and the head gouged up the gasket. Got a new one on the way tomorrow from my FLAPS.