only good for copper gaskets, not metal shim type

just make sure the head and block are clean.
i mean clean! as clean as you can get it without removing any metal.lol

you can get the engine running without coolant for a min or 2 to get some heat into the block and head to help with the head gasket seal then letting it cool and adding coolant..??

i had a chrysler v8 that gave me head gasket grief on more than one ocassion due to a fine machining error on the block.
one word.. hilomar?(spelling?)
this s**t will glue your head to the block and you will s**t your self if and when you ever try to get the gasket and head off..
but unless you have had problems with the gasket sealing you dont glue or sealant.-

i pretty much read all of this thread in the last 15 seconds lol. which part of the rocker assy do you need? is it just the tappets?

works well on my blown chev (900hp) with alloy heads and the nc blown 4.0 , being a fully qual mechanic i just dont know any more

Aren't you a fast reader hahaha. umm I am going to get the whole assembly, cause the one out of my old engine had a cracked arm and 2 pedestals were also broken. I can reuse the one in the current engine (which originally was from the XR motor) but i need the car still.

Tried to get the pulley off at work, didn't come off, didn't even budge so I am going to get a new steel pulley and chuck it on.

phong =P~

nah i just skimmed through the pictures lol. i was only asking cause i have one here but probably wouldnt be worth posting to you if you wanted the whole thing. just thought if you only needed a few bits it might pack up ok.

hehehe yeah. Thanks for the idea though ^_^...I'll just go to the wreckers or Pick-a-Part and grab one for myself. Hopefully they go at a cheap rate.

cheers

phong =P~

that isnt one of these so called 'Rare Engines'? http://www.trueblueford.com/ELengine.html

If its original then its an EL hybrid tickford unit.

Alright...I got off my a** and started to put things together...mainly because something is starting a bit strange in my current engine. Probably a timing chain issue in my current engine.

Anyways I have cleaned the block with degreaser, then kerosene and then I used compressed air to get rid of little pieces of crap that may be stuck in weird places...I also put degreaser down the head bolt holes and used the air gun to get all the crap out...came out shmick.

(Note: I write a caption of the image first and then put the image...that way people don't get confused as to what image to look at while reading .)

I cleaned the block several times...since I found more dirt here and there which made me paranoid and made me clean the whole block over again. Anyways after cleaning twice I got some advice from arm79 about how to put the head on and he reminded me to put the guides back on the block to help fit the gasket and head on right. Those 2 guides are circled in the picture.



This is when the block was cleaned...looked much cleaner then previous but the photos are a bit deceiving...the block was clean but it wasn't really as shiny as the photo shows. I think the flash and angle made it look cleaner. After 4 runs of cleaning it (wipe, kerosene wipe, dry wipe and air gun), I am safe to say it is clean.



Once all nice and clean, I placed the head gasket on, which made it look even cleaner .



I also replaced the timing case gasket with a new one from the ACL kit. Make sure when you replace the gasket that the mating surfaces are clean. I used degreaser to remove all the old gasket maker and also the oil from the top of the timing case. Once it was nice and clean and dry like, I placed the new one in...it only fits in one way. There are notches on either end of the case which face a specific way which the gasket follows suit. I then put a bead of gasket maker where the timing case meets the block. Was told they sometimes leak there so it is good to put some there. I have indicated where I put a bead of gasket maker in the following picture in yellow. (...note the yellow mark on the timing chain guide, is to indicate a bead of gasket maker for the left side of the case...not on the guide ).



Now I totally forgot to take photos while I was lowering the head onto the block...mainly because I was on my own and couldn't hold the head with a camera in my hand. Anyways I lowered the head on the block making sure the head sat properly with the use of the guides previously put in. Once the head sat right on the guides, the head just slipped in and with a bit of force I pushed it down so that the head was in touch with the gasket.

I then took brand new AU head bolts, oiled them from the base to the stud and I put them in one by one by hand first. You don't really have to put it in any specific order by hand, but if you want to get the hang of it, you can always put the head bolts in the correct order which you will find out soon. Once they were all in I then screwed the bolts in until the stud touched the head.

At this point I used a torque wrench to tighten the bolts to 30Nm in the correct order. The correct order is the reverse of the removal. You go from the centre in a sprial anti-clockwise direction. I used an older photo to show how the bolts should be tightened.



Once I got each bolt to 30Nm in the first run, I did another run around each bolt to tighten the bolts up again, due to the head not being level initially, the first bolts would have been loosened up a bit and thus not at 30Nm. I ran over each bolt about 4/5 times to make sure each bolt is at 30Nm.

Next and final step was to tighten each bolt, in the correct sequence, a further 120 degrees. I did the 30Nm + 120 degrees due to the use of the AU head gasket, so when you are doing your head gasket and not using an AU gasket, you do 40Nm + 90 degrees. I went out to Bursons before I started putting things together and got myself a Angular Torque Gauge. Cost me about $23 which was worth it, until I found out I could have made one myself quiet easily. With the help of my dad holding the gauge, I tightened each bolt in sequence to 120 degrees.

After about 15 minutes of figuring out how to use the damn gauge and tightening the bolts, we manage to get the head on...now we just hope the thing works without leaks...and I can't find out until the engine is in the car. That will take a while.

This picture is the final result...nice and clean . I am quiet happy with it...though we will see what the final result is once it runs.



Next step is, getting a set of rocker gears, putting cam in, shimming the rockers, timing chain tensioner.

This completes the Head gasket change which is what this topic was about. Though there is of course more to it once the head is done. During the change over you should have sent out your radiator for a test/flush and when everything is back together you got to top up fluids and what not. Hopefully this thread will help those who want to attempt this tedious task.

I will continue the thread until the motor is all together again, that way those who are watching can also see how to put the shims and stuff in when putting a regrind cam in as well as the timing chain tensioner crap.

Until another day when I get off my a** to finish it off. haha.

phong =P~

Well, I had to get up at 4 this morning to go the airport with punktured. So punktured and I thought we'd go to my house so he can pick up some stuff and we ended up heading to Pick-a-Part where I scored myself a rocker assembly for $17 + $1 entry fee (including bolts, shims and tappets ). Bargain I say and the rockers looked in good condition. Gave it a clean when we got back and now it is cleaner and oiled up to prevent surface rusting.

We thought we might as well replace the sump gasket and clean the sump up. For those who want to replace the sump gasket, it is a tedious task even out of the engine bay when the engine is upright due to gravity.

Drain the oil out first and then undo the numerous amounts of bolts holding the sump up. The sump should either drop down or stay stuck to the gasket. If sticks tap the sump lightly with a mallet making sure you are supporting the sump so that it doesn't just drop after the tap.

When the sump came off, we removed the old gasket and threw that away and cleaned the sump inside and out, making sure we oiled the inside with some new oil to prevent any surface rusting. Cleaned both mating surfaces with a solvent dried it with an air gun. Once all was nice and clean, we put some gasket maker at the ends of each half moon on the block as well as the area where the timing case meets the block. We placed the rubber gaskets on the half moon section of the block and raised the sump with the rest of the gasket on it to the block. Before tightening the bolts up the gaskets had to be maneuvered so that they all joined together. Once that was achieved, which was a pain in the a**, we tightened the bolts up one by one by hand until firm. If you have a torque wrench that can go as low as 8Nm then i suggest you use it to tighten up those bolts. We didn't have a torque wrench that went that low so we guestimated.

Now I just hope all the things we've done will actually work and not fail on us. So fingers crossed for no oil leaks.

Tomorrow I think I will be putting the cam in, shimming the rockers, cleaning the rocker cover and putting that back on. I am not sure if I am going to do the welsh plugs since they look like they were just done and seem in good condition. Water pump just needs the pulley to be pressed on so I am hoping to get it done soon.

Hopefully it will be in and running in 2 weeks. See how things .

phong =P~

f**k that, i paid $100 for the 'only rocker gear' in town got absolutly jipped and then found once installed the lifters were shot and it was cracked in spots. then went back to pick up 'the only other rocker gear' in town.

Scum bag f**k morons in bendigo, if you want to take a ride on the edge, go to Australian ford dismantelers Bendigo. you'll come out a lot poorer and love it...

LoL...bad luck fiftyone. I was originally going to be charged $35 but they told me to check the board before I took it out to see the price and it said $17, so scored myself a bargain on that one hehehe.

Well today I finished putting the cam and rocker gears on. First I had to clean the cam with some petrol because it was coated with some anti-rust stuff. Once it was all cleaned I covered it with oil and placed it on the head carefully. Prior to this I used compressed air to get rid of any junk on the head and then poured some fresh oil on the head.

The following images are of the camshaft and sprocket. When the cam is sitting on the head, you can turn the camshaft a couple of turns to oil the journals a little better and also to turn the indent on the front of the camshaft (circled) to the left side of the engine (left side = passenger side). This indent needs to line up with the dowel/guide notch on the sprocket. The second image just shows how the sprocket sits on the cam and the third image is of the cam resting on the head.







Now I was ready to put on the rocker assembly. Before I put it all together, I did a trial fitting of the rocker assembly, to make sure it's all good. While the rocker assembly was resting on the head, I made sure I got some clean plastic/lint free cloth to block the oil return holes as well as the timing case gap. That way little bits of the rocker assembly didn't fall down into the darkness.





Now all covered I took the rocker assembly off and started to put the shims into the rocker arms. I placed 2 shims per arm, making sure the 3 markings on the shims are facing the tappets. Another words, the side with the 3 markings of the shim was facing down. Once I placed 2 in each arm, I placed the tappets in making sure the old crusted retainers were all off. I was told not to put retainers when putting 2 shims in due to the tappet getting stuck and getting the annoying tappet ticking noise. Due to not using retainers, the tappets fell out of the arms, so I took some masking tape and taped them up as seen in the pictures below. Looks dodgy, but the tape held them in . Each shim was 1.9mm thick...which is the standard thickness.





The rocker was just resting on the head while the masking tape held the tappets in. I maneuvered the whole rocker assembly around until the pedestals aligned with the guides on the head. Once aligned I gently tapped each pedestal with my hand until they sat snuggly in place. Wiped the bolts clean and placed them all in their holes. I tightened all the bolts up by hand until each bolt touched the top of the rocker pedestal. Then I tightened in a spiral motion from the centre bolts towards the outside bolts. Exactly the same as the head...just with friggen more bolts. Once all the pedestals were touching the head (bolts are still not tight), I used the torque wrench to tighten the bolts to 25Nm in the spiral motion from centre outwards. Went over each bolt 3 times to make sure all bolts are at about 25Nm. After that I poured some fresh oil on the rocker assembly to stop parts from rusting. End result is as you see below.





I then put the sprocket bolt on by hand. Now all I got to do is tighten the sprocket bolt to the specific torque and then the timing chain tensioner...which I might need help with.

So far so good I think . We'll see how things go when the engine runs.

phong =P~

Umm I have run into a bit of a problem now. I have now cleaned and oiled up the components that make up the Timing chain tensioner. I noticed there are 2 small O-rings on the filter, one O-ring with the same diameter as the filter which sits in the Plug along with the filter and a larger O-ring on the Retainer unit.

I looked at the Gregory's manual and it has a diagram of the O-rings, though I am unsure as to which O-ring goes where. In total I found 4 O-rings, in the manual it says there are 3 O-rings. 2 at either end of the filter and one on the Retainer. Why exactly was there another O-ring on the Plug?

These O-rings are pretty old and are hard and stale...how do I go about removing them? Just cut them off some how?

Another thing...are these specific sized and different compound O-rings, or can I go to bunnings or something and buy a packet with random sized O-rings?

Sorry about the countless amounts of O-rings typed...but I am now confuzzled.

phong =P~

I think the filter basket are standard sized o-rings.

The thin one would be for the inner bolt and largest for the retainer (non stock items?)

I've always used stag on the tensioner to seal, or even RTV Blue.

I noticed you never mentioned lock-tite of any sort on the cam nut, or any other.

Also would be good for people to 'clean' the headbolt holes in the block with a modified old head bolt. (vertical cut from an angle grinder)