Iam also switching from Castrol high mileage to Valvoline VR1 20w-50 engine oil. Again I stumbled onto this product via RPI Engineering.

 

Today I started the head gasket job. Been using the Atlantic British "how to" video as a step by step reference. I've pulled everything off and am down to the heads. I dont have the trained eye for what looks good or bad but it does look as though the engine is free of engine sludge.

I've decided to replace only the head gaskets, valve cover gaskets, valley pan gasket, upper manifold gasket plus some o-rings. Will also be replacing the oil packs with genuine coil pack assembly, magnecore blue wires and champion spark plugs. The rods, lifters, oil pump and camshaft will stay as they are for now.

My at a standstill because I cannot loosen the upper head bolt on the passenger side, closest to the firewall. I've tried using 1/2 breaker bar with both 16mm and 5/8 sockets and nothing is working. I've tried using a 5/8 universal swivel joint socket with no luck. Tried using penetrating lubricant prior and nada. If I continue the head bolt will round. I'm using a Stanley socket set and neither the 5/8 nor the 16 really seem to fit tight on the head bolts. And while I was able to loosen all the outer head bolts on the passenger side head, the upper head bolts closest to the firewall will not budge.

 

My 4.6 was on an engine stand...so my advice might not help. But l had one super stubborn head bolt, right rear, and it pretty much wasted my Snap-on socket...before l finally got it broke loose. What l ended up doing was...took a super heavy punch (1 1/2 diameter, 12 inches long) and my 3 lb sledgehammer and smacked the head bolt about three times sharply. This seemed to break the static tention between bolt and head...spun right out afterwards.

Not sure if you're going to be able to do the same, tight quarters. But, thus is one of the reasons l pull the engine to do head gaskets, more room and my back, forty some years of wrenching, will not tolerate bending over the fender anymore. Plus, l think you get a better job...since the torquing down process is all out in the open.

Anyhow, good luck.

Brian.

 

Enlist a helper. Use a six point 5/8" socket on a breaker bar with a 3ft cheater bar(aka pipe) on the end. Your job is to firmly press down on the socket, making sure it stays flat against the head. Your helper will push the cheater bar counter-clockwise.

 

Yes I had a friend give me a hand. The problem I'm having is that none of my sockets fit snug on the head bolts. And while I was able to loosen the 5 head bolts on the outside of the head on the passenger side, the head bolt atop the passenger side head, closest to the firewall will not budge. Neither a 5/8 nor a 16mm socket fit snug on any of the head bolts. Theres some noticeable play. My buddy came over with his tools and tried using one of those universal one size fits most sockets but they did not work at all. And neither his 5/8 or 16 mm fit snug on any of these head bolts. Consequently one of the head bolts is beginning to round. I had to stop before I made things worse and have decided to have the truck towed to a shop down the road solely to have the rest of the head bolts removed. Then i be reassembling the engine with new gaskets and arp studs.

 

Head gasket job in progress. I stripped everything down to the heads last weekend and came to a standstill when I could not get some of the troublesome head bolts loosened. So I had the truck towed to my buddy's shop down the road and he loosened the rest of the head bolts for me and gave me the go ahead to continue working on my truck on his property.

This weekend I pulled the heads and gaskets. Cleaned the mating surfaces with a gasket scraper and a mild blue scotch bright pad. Cleaned up the front of the block and around the back where the gaskets had failed. While everything is apart I replaced the oil pressure sensor and plan on also replacing the coolant temp sensor.

With the heads and manifolds removed I pulled the spark plugs and replaced with champion plugs. Installed new manifold gaskets and torqued the bolts. Next I installed the head gaskets and refitted the cylinder heads followed by the arp studs, in accordance with the step by step instructions in the Atlantic British videos.

1) Add a dab of blue lock tight at the the base of each stud (corse side that screws into the block)
2) insert all 20 studs and hand tighten until you cant tighten them anymore.
3) fit the provided washer and nut to each stud.
4) ensure the 6 longer studs are inserted on the top middle section of the heads (3 per side)
5) toque studs to 40 ft lbs and starting in the middle and following a circular pattern
6) wait afew minutes
7) torque to 65 ft lbs in same pattern as before
8) wait a couple minutes
9) final torque to 80 ft lbs.

At this stage I ran into an issue with one of the longer studs on the top portion of the cylinder head. The amount of rotation needed to go from 65 to 80 ft lbs was maybe half a rotation for the other bolts but this particular bolt did a complete rotation and still no click with the torque wrench. I stopped and thought that maybe the torque wrench failed. So I skipped the stud and moved onto the next one below it and proceeded to try tightening to 80 ft lbs. Half rotation then a click which indicated to me that the torque wrench is still working fine. So I went back to the troublesome stud and again attempted to tighten the stud until I heard a click not again another half rotation and still no click. Then abruptly the stud felt considerably looser than it had been previously. I assumed the stud either broke or that it damaged the threads in the block. I stopped and consulted with my mechanic buddy. He suggests giv9ng it another try. Either it will tighten or it will break the threads in the block in which case I'll have to pull the head back off and use a thread time set kit to make new threads. I have not torqued the passenger side head yet. Working on the driver side.

Also worth noting that Doug from Atlantic British suggests a final torque of 85 ft lbs. My torque wrench only goes to 80.

 

So I'm comparing your new head gaskets to the video from AB. Did you install them upside-down?? Dude in the video says the side with more metal showing faces out.

 

You are correct however I'm not using any of the head gaskets sold by Rovers North, Atlantic British or Lucky 8. I ordered mine from RPI Engineering. Both sides look identical and no metal is visible save for around the cylinders.

 

Whew.

 

Lol Fish.....