Well as some of you may have seen from the http://briskoda.net/favorit-felicia-fun-forman/bugger-bugger-bugger/155969/ thread, I changed my head gasket at the weekend.

Below are a few pics of what I did (with the help/guidence of my father in the background) ;

Firstly the actual reasons for changing the gasket;

Must include my little helper, who decided to destroy a box full of gloves and run of with various tools through out the morning;

Then onto the actual work area;

First things first, best to do a compression check;

Then strip the air cleaner off;

Remove the rocker cover and exhaust downpipe to manifold bolts ;

Remove the rocker gear, push rods, and head bolts. Placing them in a cardboard template so they go back in, in the right order;

Head off. Not the best condition pistons, but nothing serious

Head gasket wasn't in a good way;

Head wasn't warped, but there was some corrosion on the top water way end;

Ran a shim across to double check;

Once the head was cleaned up, a new gasket was put on and the engine put back together in the reverse order.

One last thing before startup. Ran another compression test to make sure everything was ok before we turned the engine over.

However on starting the engine we noticed water pouring out the back of the thermostat housing. So that was quickly wipped of, cleaned up and put back on with the help of some blue sealant.

So far so good. No coolant loss and the engine is running fine.

Edited 7 September, 200916 yr by auroan

Nice to see you little helpers helping you out!!

In the second pic your Charlie looks pleased with himself.

How long did it take you to change the head gasket roughly ?

Not the same 'little helper' type as Baker21 uses.

Still, top marks to them for helping! Thanks for the write up.

How long did it take you to change the head gasket roughly ?

About an 1 & 1/2h, including chasing Charlie around getting tools back.

Not the same 'little helper' type as Baker21 uses.

Still, top marks to them for helping! Thanks for the write up.

No problem

Wow ! A lot faster than I thought. Thanks for a great guide.

:)Great stuff!

I don't know if you have already done it it, but it's very important to re-set the valve clearances after the engine has been run for a while and cooled back down.

Oh, no I haven't. All I did was the gasket. Is there a reason for having to reset the valve clearance ?

:)Bit late replying to this!

It's really, really important, if the clearances are too small you will have an engine that runs poorly and will burn out valves due to them not being able to close fully.

Oh, no I haven't. All I did was the gasket. Is there a reason for having to reset the valve clearance ?

Yes, the reasons that they need doing are as Dave says above. The gasket will be crushed slightly differently one way or another, so it'll need doing ASAP!

Ah right... oh bum, better find out how to do that then ..... :confused:

Piece of cake. You'll need an 11mm spanner, a straight screwdriver and a set of feeler gauges. I can't type how to do it out on here, but if you look here:

COMP CAMS® “How-To” - Valve Lash Adjustment - CPG Nation Forum

Under the "solid lifter" bit there's info there; obviously you need the right clearances, but it's kiddie play.

Cool, got the procedure, but the bleeding haynes manual doesn't have the details for what the clearances should be

Yes it does, somewhere. Fav is 0.25mm on inlet and exhaust. Fel is 0.25mm inlet, 0.20mm exhaust.

I couldn't find them, but thanks for the info Let see how far I get in this damn windy day....

Yeah, it's in the "service" section, rather than the engine bit....good luck, don't think the wind should affect it other than leaves getting into the engine!

All sorted and car is now running sweet as a nut !!!!

Thanks djaychela and daverapid. Once again Briskodians come to the rescue !!!!

No worries. Easy when you know how. And now you know how!

:)Excellent news! Did it cure the idling issue?

sure did

Can you please re upload the photos. they are not showing any more.... 

 

Thanks, 

Jordan