1041870
Had the pleasure of spending several fun filled hours this past weekend cahnging a head gasket on my '81 CJ-7. Learned a few things in the process.
1. The engineers at AMC were saddists. It took 30 minutes, 6" of extension, a swivel attachment, and mucho patience (not always my strong suit
) to remove the back left corner bolt on the valve cover.
2. AMC engineers were saddists to the nth degree. Removing the intake and exhaust manifold bolts was a new experience in language skills as my 3 yr old son was "helping" as I was working on this part.
He thinks Jeeps are cool by the way.
3. The cylinder head bolts were installed by King Kong with a 650 ft-lb impact wrench. I decided ny weight loss diet goal of about 50 lbs could wait a while after this experience.
4. The head is heavier than it looks. There is also no good way for a 5'10" person to gain enough leverage to easily lift this thing from th engine bay. Oily hands don't help either.
5. PB Blaster kicks butt!!!
6. Hide the video cam before putting the head back on. Picture this... one foot on each inner wheel well in the engine bay, butt on the hood which is laid back onto tho hardtop, and lowering this chunk of iron back into place without moving the gasket around.
7. Beware the 3 yr old who likes to help. Was missing two manifold bolts when I went to put these parts back on. Mom found them in the bottom of the dryer during tumbling
.
8. It's all worth it when the beast starts back up on the 2nd crank. (Played it off when the wife was surprised, but she knows me too well and made me fess up to surprise too
)
9. It's amazing what you can accomplish when time is the deadline driving things. (< 3 hrs to put pushrods, rocker arms, valve cover, intake & axhaust mainfold, alternator, power steering pump back on; change oil, plugs, coolant, get cleaned up and go to work
). Sometimes the Jeepgods smile on the desperate.
Later,
D
[addsig]
Had the pleasure of spending several fun filled hours this past weekend cahnging a head gasket on my '81 CJ-7. Learned a few things in the process.
1. The engineers at AMC were saddists. It took 30 minutes, 6" of extension, a swivel attachment, and mucho patience (not always my strong suit
2. AMC engineers were saddists to the nth degree. Removing the intake and exhaust manifold bolts was a new experience in language skills as my 3 yr old son was "helping" as I was working on this part.
3. The cylinder head bolts were installed by King Kong with a 650 ft-lb impact wrench. I decided ny weight loss diet goal of about 50 lbs could wait a while after this experience.
4. The head is heavier than it looks. There is also no good way for a 5'10" person to gain enough leverage to easily lift this thing from th engine bay. Oily hands don't help either.
5. PB Blaster kicks butt!!!
6. Hide the video cam before putting the head back on. Picture this... one foot on each inner wheel well in the engine bay, butt on the hood which is laid back onto tho hardtop, and lowering this chunk of iron back into place without moving the gasket around.
7. Beware the 3 yr old who likes to help. Was missing two manifold bolts when I went to put these parts back on. Mom found them in the bottom of the dryer during tumbling
8. It's all worth it when the beast starts back up on the 2nd crank. (Played it off when the wife was surprised, but she knows me too well and made me fess up to surprise too
9. It's amazing what you can accomplish when time is the deadline driving things. (< 3 hrs to put pushrods, rocker arms, valve cover, intake & axhaust mainfold, alternator, power steering pump back on; change oil, plugs, coolant, get cleaned up and go to work
Later,
D
