Head Removal...Humor Me

J

jg61hawk

Senior Member
I know the Search Function...but I'm just asking....so I did my head gasket about 7 years ago and it was a cream puff. Now an 85 year old guy with a 1929 Tudor found me (how I was hiding) and says he has water in the oil, and the exhaust is puffing a little white...I believe he is correct, the head gasket.

So today I go to his house and we start...I got the "RED BOOK" and I did mine, but his is a little stuck...We did get it to break loose at the front and probably even some at the rear. My questions are:
1. The Red Book says remove the long studs at the inlet flange, I did get one out but the other seems to be seriously in there and I prefer to leave it alone, the front head pops up around the stud...can I leave it?
2. What type (plastic, wood, metal) wedge have you used?
3. We have the eyelets in the spark plug holes and can move the front of head up and down...any ideas how to extend our ability to loosen?
4. Any ideas are appreciated....
 
If you have the front of the head loose and wiggling, then you have basically won the game. Maybe put one of your spark plug eyelets in the #4 spark plug and pull up as you work the front. You will get it.
 
Have you tried turning the engine over with the starter. Loosen all the head nuts first. Than give it a couple of cranks. Has worked for me.

Good luck.

Enjoy.
 
Sorry but I would not suggest using the rope trick. You will likely break things.
You've gotten the head loose and and are going to win this one in getting it off.
Drive it back down and then up again. Be very careful doing any prying. You can break an edge on the block and screw up valves. If you have a engine lift or a chain hoist you can pull on it with that using an eye screwed into one or more of the spark plug holes. If you don't have one of the lift eyes then knock the porcelain out of an old spark plug and weld an eye on it. Try to keep it even when lifting it up so as not to bind it. Going up and down will allow the rust build up around the studs to fall out creating room.
If pulling with a lift be careful not to allow it to pop off as you will most likely destroy the junction box.
 
Try the plastic wedges used for tree felling. You can get them at a hardware store like Lowes. Just make sure you are not hamering it against any open valves by peeking in the spark plug holes. Use one at the rear and one at the front and on opposite sides of the engine. Do not wedge in the center as you can crack the head. Take as many studs out as you can. Sometimes a vice-grip works and you can just replace any studs that get damaged. Others have welded a nut to the top of the stud but if the stud does not come out you have to unweld the nut.
 
Use penetrating oil around the studs and as mentioned before, work it up and down. I know it seems contraindicated to push it down again, but it loosens the rust. soon it will come off all the way. You are past the real difficult part. Skip the rope trick, and turning the engine over will do no good when the head has been partially loosened. Good Luck.
 
midgetracer said:
Use penetrating oil around the studs and as mentioned before, work it up and down. I know it seems contraindicated to push it down again, but it loosens the rust. soon it will come off all the way. You are past the real difficult part. Skip the rope trick, and turning the engine over will do no good when the head has been partially loosened. Good Luck.
Click to expand...


Agree with midget racer above. Absolutely no rope tricks and I would discourage trying to remove studs without knowing what they look like at the base as some engines have studs that can be stuck and if you break off a stud you’ve got a bigger job in front of you. I just took off a head this morning that had the head moving in all the studs except the clamp stud . Worked on it for 4 hours yesterday and got the head up enough to use a saws all to cut it off. Once the head was off I still had to pound the crap out of it to get the stud off. One of the most difficult I’ve had to deal with in a while . Be patient !

Soak all studs from top with a good penetrant. The head puller if you have it is useful. If not I use wedges , large screwdrivers and work up to tire irons at the corners. Work it up evenly. As had been said be careful of the valves . If you have the outer drivers side long stud out that will help tremendously in gaining leverage on that side. I would NOT try to remove studs with the head on.
Be patient and methodical. In my opinion You have not won the battle yet but you have a good start .
Larry Shepard
 
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head studs can be pesky. the last one i did the studs were rusted at the bases and weakened. not a pleasant day, i broke 5.
if a stud comes out as you are taking the nut off its a bonus.

id leave the studs in until you know what you are dealing with.
 
Hot studs and lard is making me hungry lol, build a dam around each stud with play-do, dumb-dumb, fill the cavity with a good penetrating oil, refill the cavity daily, next week pull the head off !
 
Patience and lift the head evenly seems to be the key. Anytime you get the head higher anywhere it seems to bind on the studs. Lifting evenly seems to do the trick. I have one of the commercial head pullers and it works well. One of the old machinist in the club built one out of a flat plate that is wider than then commercial version. It works really well and lifts the head nearly to the top of the studs.
 
I know this doesn't help you guys at this point but just last week at a club meeting we removed a cylinder head using Snyder's head puller #A-6010- P in 15 minutes. It doesn't matter how stuck the head is with this tool, it is coming off now! Ed
 
It's off!!! Thanks for the replies. Here's what worked. We got Snyder's Part https://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/searchm.htm?type=merged&sterm=&searcht=A-6010-px and that broke it free by about 1/8 inch. After that it was using the eyebolts threaded into the spark plug holes https://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/product.htm?pid=976986&cat=41753 and a large bar through the eyebolts and yet on top of a stud. (with a nut on the stud...very important ) and just moving up and down with PB Blaster. Every time a little brown crud would come out of the stud holes...do that until NO CRUD comes out and eventually the eyelets get turned and a bar is between them and you pull up!!!! Took about ten hours, two cans of PB Blaster and patience.

Ten hours for this one...someone asked what I meant mine was cream puff. My old A needed a head gasket, and literally the head came off so easy... loosened the nuts, eyelets in sparkplug holes and one two three pulls the head popped and kept coming up.

Again...Thanks for the advice to ALL. great forum....
 
use a 20 IB sledge across the top of the head, till it comes off in pieces......

you wtd humor



I would use wood wedges around the perimeter of the head. oak
 
1crosscut said:
Sorry but I would not suggest using the rope trick. You will likely break things.
You've gotten the head loose and and are going to win this one in getting it off.
Drive it back down and then up again. Be very careful doing any prying. You can break an edge on the block and screw up valves. If you have a engine lift or a chain hoist you can pull on it with that using an eye screwed into one or more of the spark plug holes. If you don't have one of the lift eyes then knock the porcelain out of an old spark plug and weld an eye on it. Try to keep it even when lifting it up so as not to bind it. Going up and down will allow the rust build up around the studs to fall out creating room.
If pulling with a lift be careful not to allow it to pop off as you will most likely destroy the junction box.
Click to expand...

yup the rope trick would have broke something in my engine. it took me 3 weeks to take the head off. it was stuck good i unbolted it started it up, nouthing. i hooked a chain fall to the head, pulled the frount wheals off the ground and jumped on front bumper, nouthing. also used a Bill Stipe head puller and broke one of the pulling points. What i ended up doing was keeping pressure on the head with the puller, putting penetrating oil on the studs and useing heat. finely it moved, the puller took more pressure. at that point it took 4 more hours to get it off, pushing the head up and down, i did not take any studs out, intill i took the head off
 
I know a guy that that is mostly all he does on old motors , he grinds off the heads of the bolts don't even try to loosen them unless the are fairly loose already ,,, after he grinds the head off the bolts he can get to the base of the bolt ,,,, he uses bees wax he heats up the head and puts bees wax to the base of the bolt ,,, he lets it sizzle like butter on a skillet ,he also uses 1/2 acidtone and 1/2 transmission fluid ,,,,, one of the things I have seen him do is use dry ice to get a piston unstuck ,, sometime the old guys do ok
 
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