Im going to rmove me head for some work and wounderd if theres any special tools needed appart from the tool that holds the timing gear in place.Is it just a socket set and spanners ,screw drivers etc.

 

There are those who will dispute my advice for this tool but it has worked for me (28,000 miles and no leak) and for the installer that showed me in the first place; when the head gasket is removed you will need to clean the block’s deck. I used a 3M Roloc Disc Pad Assembly #05114-05539 on an electric drill but a high speed air grinder is better. Be sure to keep it flat; don’t allow it to round the edges on the deck surface. After using, clean everything well; a stiff note card will do in the gap between the cylinder wall and piston above the top ring. An alternative to the Roloc is a flat block wrapped in emery paper progressing to finer grades in steps. The Roloc is a green shower head looking thing on the drill in this photo.

 

My god i wont have to strip out that much of my engine to remove the head will i?

 

You definitely don't need to take your car apart that much to get the head off. The only things that were removed from my car when I got the headwork were the intercooler, airbox, and ecu.

Mine looked like this:

 

More than one project was going on in my photo; it was the only hosted photo I had of the tool in action.

 

So you dont need to remove the radiator/front pannel etc?I thought this was a must.Also how have you secured the timing chain.?Also was it easy enough to remove the throttle body and injector rail /intake manafold.?finaly if i want to fit new pistons can i do this from the bottom with the radiator still in place?

 

The front will not have to be removed to do just the head, please look at the previous photo. To remove the A/C compressor it helps to have the front off but if you don’t have A/C that won’t be in the way when removing the oil pan if you want to swap pistons look here https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=96791 . It will make a smaller mess if the coolant is drained before removing the thermostat on the side of the head but once again it is not an absolute necessity.

I placed a mark in three places on the timing chain and camshaft sprocket to show where to put the chain when re-installing the camshaft sprocket but unfortunately the marks wiped off, so beware of that possible pitfall. Luckily I didn’t move the crankshaft so it would only go one way not a tooth to either side of where it was removed when using the stock camshaft sprocket locking tool. The timing chain will not come off the crankshaft sprocket so the chain can be dropped in the timing chain cover space. Remember the crank does two rotations for every one rotation of the camshaft so if you decide to do pistons make multiple marks on each sprocket and corresponding spot on the chain so as not to loose your place.

You may or may not have an issue with removing the intake manifold, some require you to lift the head to get to the nut on the supercharger output side and on others the IM can be left on the head and both head & IM removed together. On my head the supercharger output duct would not let me lift high enough to clear the block dowel and move to the right so I had to remove the IM first. Another work around is to remove the supercharger and output duct first but if that’s not a part of the install plan then back to the original method.

 

Thanks for the extra pics.So if ive got AC which i have ,i will probably need to remove the front panel anyway as the air con pump is in the way of the pan .Also im hoping to bw able to leave the aircon radiator in place and just remove the water radiator.Finaly do you think i will be able to leave the wheel arch liners in place?
thanks again jamie

 

Putting the radiator support in service mode will provide enough room to remove the AC and suspend it with a wire. The oil pan can be removed and most of the coolant will remain in the system. Once again it is not necessary but makes access for the task easier.


Much of what you are looking for is be located in the Bentley Service Manual.

For going whole hog, the A/C heat exchanger can be suspended with chords over to the side.