So my 87 na has had a blown(getting slowly worse over a long time) gasket, so i decided to replace and do it all correctly the first time.
I thought i had it all planned out so well, so i thought... I had all the parts ordered, most came no problem some took a few weeks. Really not a big deal once i had the parts it looked like i was set.
Day one of HG job armed with tsrm and a few other printed walk throughs with a friend to help we got going. Things rolled smoothly going through the steps no problems. Got to the exhaust manifold disconnecting from the DP, it was hell to break the 3 bolts. Spent an hour on them but got it taken care of. A few fuel lines were so old they turned to hard plastic like lines and... broke. Got the the PCV system, the 3 hoses on the Y pipe were hard as rocks. Again, no thing to over whelming for a few hours on day 1.
The biggest plus of day 1 was cleaning the valve covers. The covers were so covered in who knows what, they were literally all black. A few cans of brake cleaner and they actually look really good. Who knew there was RED lettering on my valve covers lol.
Day 2 began on a good foot then went down hill fast. We were about to remove the intake manifold and see the wires running between that need unplugged. Well the plugs are stuck together and wont budge, i dont want to risk breaking them. We decide to unbolt the intake from the head and leave it in the car when the head comes out no big deal. At the same time the exhaust manifold should come out, well of course it gets stuck some how. 2 of the studs are out and 1 stuck so it wont come out or push back into place.
Eventually the head came out free and clear, at this point i begin the exhaust stud replacement(driftmotion kit). My cordless drill just cant handle drilling into the head, lucky i have a 'new' head and i used my old head as a test. The drill bit that came with the kit is just way to big to drill into the hole. We tried stepping down 4 sizes and got a clean hole, working up 1 size at a time. Again my cordless just couldnt keep up, my friend needed a new drill so off to sears. Back in the garage new high power drill in hand we go to town. Same problem as before, the bit is just too big so we step back down and work up in sizes. An hour of fighting with the exhaust studs we give up and decide just use the stock studs and be done with it.
The block of course is a wreck, coolant is visible on the pistons. We go to town with sand paper and cleaner. At the end the block is as good as i can ever get it in the car, it did look really good and very smooth all around. Things were going too well after cleaning the block we start looking through the gaskets i ordered. The intake manifold lower to upper turns out to be the wrong gasket. After that things just snow balled, little things adding up fast.
My friend had to leave so im left putting the head back on myself. Turned out to be easy as the head dropped right into place no problems. The gasket didnt slid under the head no thing moved, the head just sat right in place. I also used the Right stuff before the gasket/head went on. Im riding high at that point planning to make serious progress over night. The head is on, alot of small hoses and lines are in place with fresh new ones.
I break out the ARP box and get a stud out noting how big it is... i thread one into the hole just as a test fit. Ya well its literally twice as long as it should be!! 7" head studs just arent going to work. I start checking the arp box and looks like i some how ordered the wrong stud kit
So, now my daily driver is dead in the water for who knows how long while i hopefully get the correct studs/gasket(s).
/long rant, i do feel better
I thought i had it all planned out so well, so i thought... I had all the parts ordered, most came no problem some took a few weeks. Really not a big deal once i had the parts it looked like i was set.
Day one of HG job armed with tsrm and a few other printed walk throughs with a friend to help we got going. Things rolled smoothly going through the steps no problems. Got to the exhaust manifold disconnecting from the DP, it was hell to break the 3 bolts. Spent an hour on them but got it taken care of. A few fuel lines were so old they turned to hard plastic like lines and... broke. Got the the PCV system, the 3 hoses on the Y pipe were hard as rocks. Again, no thing to over whelming for a few hours on day 1.
The biggest plus of day 1 was cleaning the valve covers. The covers were so covered in who knows what, they were literally all black. A few cans of brake cleaner and they actually look really good. Who knew there was RED lettering on my valve covers lol.
Day 2 began on a good foot then went down hill fast. We were about to remove the intake manifold and see the wires running between that need unplugged. Well the plugs are stuck together and wont budge, i dont want to risk breaking them. We decide to unbolt the intake from the head and leave it in the car when the head comes out no big deal. At the same time the exhaust manifold should come out, well of course it gets stuck some how. 2 of the studs are out and 1 stuck so it wont come out or push back into place.
Eventually the head came out free and clear, at this point i begin the exhaust stud replacement(driftmotion kit). My cordless drill just cant handle drilling into the head, lucky i have a 'new' head and i used my old head as a test. The drill bit that came with the kit is just way to big to drill into the hole. We tried stepping down 4 sizes and got a clean hole, working up 1 size at a time. Again my cordless just couldnt keep up, my friend needed a new drill so off to sears. Back in the garage new high power drill in hand we go to town. Same problem as before, the bit is just too big so we step back down and work up in sizes. An hour of fighting with the exhaust studs we give up and decide just use the stock studs and be done with it.
The block of course is a wreck, coolant is visible on the pistons. We go to town with sand paper and cleaner. At the end the block is as good as i can ever get it in the car, it did look really good and very smooth all around. Things were going too well after cleaning the block we start looking through the gaskets i ordered. The intake manifold lower to upper turns out to be the wrong gasket. After that things just snow balled, little things adding up fast.
My friend had to leave so im left putting the head back on myself. Turned out to be easy as the head dropped right into place no problems. The gasket didnt slid under the head no thing moved, the head just sat right in place. I also used the Right stuff before the gasket/head went on. Im riding high at that point planning to make serious progress over night. The head is on, alot of small hoses and lines are in place with fresh new ones.
I break out the ARP box and get a stud out noting how big it is... i thread one into the hole just as a test fit. Ya well its literally twice as long as it should be!! 7" head studs just arent going to work. I start checking the arp box and looks like i some how ordered the wrong stud kit
So, now my daily driver is dead in the water for who knows how long while i hopefully get the correct studs/gasket(s).
/long rant, i do feel better
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