OK, great! Thanks!

Will report back with progress...

 

I wouldn't try a 1/4" drive breaker bar for the head bolts.

 

Thanks guys; the heads are both out without any real issues. At some point we found a small copper or brass ring laying in the valley on top of one of the shop towels. We could not figure out where it came from. I will post a picture to see if you guys can help me out. I don't want to have it back together and realize it was part of the fuel rail or something stupid.



I took the rockers and covers home as well as the throttle body/intake plenum assembly, but I left my AB gasket set at the office (with the car). Does anyone know offhand if the set includes the 2 gaskets between the plenum chamber and the upper manifold?

Also, I don't seem to be able to pull the injectors out of the fuel rail and definitely don't want to break those... Any ideas on how hard it is to get those out and tricks to make it easier?

Tomorrow I will drop the heads of. $300 for resurface, crack check, cleaning and valve job. Not bad I think for Santa Monica, CA... Then I will spend some hours on getting the rockers, the upper manifold, the lower inlet manifold and the rocker covers cleaned up. IMO it doesn't look too bad at all. The hardest part will be to get the cylinder block nicely cleaned before putting the heads back on. I started using some carb cleaner with rags on the cylinders, but that was painfully slow. Any suggestions there?

 

Think carefully about removing the injectors. Once out it may turn out you will need a new fuel rail.
When I did my '95 I made the mistake of removing them and could never get a seal again. The cups on the rail were too badly rusted. No matter what I tried at least 1 or 2 leaked.

 

I am willing to bet the ring you are referencing to is out of the valve cover gasket (check to see if they are all there) . The AB head gasket kit includes the 2 manifold gaskets you are referring to. (part number ERR6622)

Been following your post closely as I will be embarking on the same job shortly.

 

Yea that looks like the compression washers in the valve cover gaskets.

 

Glad that it seems to be the compression rings of the gasket. Looked at some pictures and it looks like that should be it. Will need to check the trash for the gaskets when I get back to the office.

Living in LA, I don't have to deal with any rust, so I am not afraid that rust may have affected the fuel rail. I just don't want to gorilla the injectors trying to get them out. Is there a trick?

So I took the heads to the shop this morning. On the bike...:



Heads should be done some time Monday or Tuesday so we'll start putting it back together the next day. I cleaned the intake today and wanted to do the rockers but ran out of cleaner. Tomorrow I may work on cleaning the block after I pick up some new carb cleaner. I used some PB on the rocker cover and whatever gunk was on there came right of with a rag after hitting it with the PB. Can I spray that on the pistons too? Still need to drain the oil anyway... Or would it damage something internally?

 

There is absolutely NO reason to get the injectors out.
Don't touch them.
You add tons of risk to the job.
Pull the lower manifold out as an assy with the injectors still attached.
Use a wrench to get the bolts out that a socket can't remove.

 

Ok, ok!

Did take the fuel rail of and separated them... So too late to keep it as one assembly... I treated them with lots of respect so let's hope for the best. I will leave them in the rail and won't ask about them again!

 

the injectors should not be a problem that is why the head gasket kit comes with new O-ring, they put them in the kit for a reason.