Installing a new head tomorrow, tips?
 

Hey guys, I'm installing my new head tomorrow, provided fedex delivers it. Are there any special concerns or tips I should know about before trying to tackle this job? I'm a little concerned with having good o-rings and such inside the head, the shop manual says to replace a lot of them I don't have nor would I know how to acquire. Other than that I'm not too worried about it, but is there any basic ---- I should know before hand? Any trouble areas? Thanks.

Also do I need to drain all the oil from the engine? I just changed it not too long ago...I'm sure I'll have to drain the coolant though, any idea how much it takes to fill the radiator up again? Also when disconnecting the fuel lines, how am I supposed to relieve pressure from there and prevent fuel from spraying everywhere? Or is that even nescessary?

Re: Installing a new head tomorrow, tips?
 

when I swap heads on my single cam I just unbolt the intake manifold and pull it back against the firewall far enough to pull the head out. This way you dont have to mess with relieving gas pressure or unhooking any other lines from the IM. However you do need to drain the coolent out of the block before unbolting the IM otherwise it will leak all over. As for oil, if your really clean about your work you wont need to change the oil. For peace of mind I would change the oil and I use a paint strainer when putting my coolent back in the radiator.

Re: Installing a new head tomorrow, tips?
 

Definatly drain coolant and oil. Drain the block (there is a 17mm plug) on the front side of the block that will drain the entire water jacket around the cylinders. Some people prefer taking the IM off in the car and just letting it hang, but me personally I take the head off with the IM at the same time. A little trick you can do to save some time is, (bring the engine to TDC) get a paint pen and mark your timing marks to your timing belt. Then zip tie the belt to the gear in 2 or 3 spots. Get a bungey cord and wrap it through the cam gear up to the hood. This holds tension on the cam gear and timing belt. Then buzz off the cam gear bolt and walah,, you can swap your head and slide on your new head no problem! This will save you alot of time so you dont have to take off the front crank pulley, timing cover, timing belt etc.. Now I guess this woiuld only work if your doing a direct head swap, a vtec head swap this really wouldnt work since you are gonna need to replace the timing belt anyways.

Oh, and releliving fuel pressure, just crack the fuel rail bolt/nut about a half a turn and fuel will start spraying (very little) it will bleed down for about 5 seconds, and your good to go. (you also may want to take the gas cap off) this helps if the car will be sitting outside for awhile and fuel line off.

Jeff