Heads off! In cab, in driveway, 28*......

[cRaZy8]

Man, I was psyched to have two weeks off from work so I can get my studs done! Not so psyched its been under 30* the past two days (SW CT). Well, gotta do it when ya got the time right?

My father (retired marine diesel tech of 35yrs) has been giving me (Yamaha Outboard 5 Star Master Tech 8 yrs) a hand. Yesterday was a slow start, I had to shovel the driveway, and make a trip to the Depot to get some ice melt. Didnt start tearing it apart until 10 or so. Wind kicked up, sun went down, got real cold, we quit at 430.

Another slow start today. Well I am on vacation, so I slept in to 9. Started workin around 10 again. Long lunch break around 1. Still managed to be done by 5, with both heads sitting on the bench.

My buddy (machinist) is stoppin by in the am to check the heads out (flatness, etc). I have all my parts in hand, which I hope will make the install much quicker. The intake mani is out getting cleaned, should be done by noon tomorrow. Im hoping to have the heads bolted on with the valve covers on by the end of the day tmrw.

Parts installing:
ARP studs
Black Onyx gaskets (heads and exhaust mani)
New oil cooler rebuild kit
New HPOP STC fitting
One piece stand pipes
Intake mani gaskets
Valve cover gaskets
EGR Delete ( I cant remember who I bought it from lol- not Ebay, came with nicely machined block off plates in stainless for exhaust and aluminum for intake and all gaskets.)
Dieselsite Coolant filtration kit
Magnaflow 4" turbo back, no cat
New injector o-ring kits
Misc. other o-rings and gaskets


I marked all the valve train parts on a big piece of cardboard. But I did notice one weird thing about the dog bones. There is no rhyme or reason to how these were put on at the factory. The undersides, one side is oval, one side is round. Some were oval side inboard, others were oval side outboard. Is there a certain way these go on?

Also, the driver side head gasket showed some weakness in two areas. All four of my pistons on that side, showed signs of burning coolant. I had white spots on all of the pistons, and no carbon (clean and shiney) on two small areas on two pistons. I believe it to be from the soon to be failed head gasket. Any ideas? This truck has 60k miles, I am the second owner, first owner 5th wheeled a 8500lb trailer over summer weekends. No mods.

Some notes/thoughts about the process:
- this is totally do-able in your driveway with the cab on!
- 90% of the work is pulling off accessories and little crap
- pulling the heads off solo IS possible! my dads shoulders are shot and he couldnt do any of the heavy work. the driver side is more difficult, but not that bad, and I WILL need help putting the driver side back on.
- I have no clue how the AC system goes back in lol (my dad did all of it while i pulled other parts)
- Ford Dealerships in my area suck
- Dont decide to pull your heads off in the middle of winter
- Either remove the top section of the fan shroud, or break it off. Either way its coming off during this process.



Any tips or advice as I go to reassemble tomorrow?


Oh yeah- thanks to Big Angry Hillbilly, MikeProc, and Bigstrokin for pointers on this whole job!!!

[cartmanea]

Cold definitely sucks when working. I changed my gears last winter in an uninsulated shop, with the heat on the warmest it got was about 35F (10F outside with 2 feet of snow). Good luck wrapping it all up.

[Squid4life]

You guys are fricken heros! I am in San Diego and feel like the low 40's is bone-chilling! This place has made me a sissy! Good luck on the job, seems like you are knocking out pretty much everything you need to in one swoop. Nice job!

[Jeff-F250]

Wow man, that's hardcore. Congrats on having the motivation to do it despite the adverse weather.

[SPEEDJUNKIES750]

That is def hard core. I am about 45 minutes from you so I know how cold it is. I just sent my truck into the dealer for HG's. I am also getting the ARP's, and new coolers done.

Good luck with the project. I dont know how much help I can be, but if you need a hand getting the driver side head on, shoot me a PM and I would be glad to help you out.

Tom

[MoyockPowerstroke]

Crazy8...any pics? Nice input to the forum. Thanks.

[Strokin6Liters]

Good luck. You have some stones to do all that in that kind of cold

[melmount]

Will the heads go back on with the studs installed on the blcok first? IS there enough room to get the headsover the studs before you set them down?

[alberta 7.3]

That's impressive to do that with pulling engine/lifting cab. Renting/borrowing/stealing an engine hoist may make life a little easier for head re-install.

[cRaZy8]

Moyock- sorry no pics. My charger was left behind on my last fishing trip, and the house I left it at, the owner seems to think it was never there.........Yeah ok. All I have is my Blackberry, sorry bro.

Tom- thanks for the offer! I got the heads back on today, my cousin called to ask if I needed help right when I was cleaning the block to prep for the gaskets. Dude, Mahopac Marine? Do you go to Yamaha school in GA? There was a tech there 2 or 3 yrs ago that had a red D-max, that drove down from Mahopac with his family.


Well today, I got the heads back on. I really dont see what the fuss is. I mean, my cousin and I are both over 6', hes 220, Im 250. But still, I dont see why it is supposed to be such a pain. Tie strap the last stud, watch the t-stat housing, drop it in. It took us about 5 min to get both heads in place with a single bolt caught to hold them in place.

Most of today was a cleaning and prep day. My friend the machinist came by this morning after I cleaned the heads. He checked them 100 ways to sunday for flatness. The most he could get was .002". Most of the spots he checked were .001" or less. Good to go!!!

I rebuilt the oil cooler.
My dad went and picked up a pair of fuel filters from Napa ($44 for the pair- in the same box?).
He also picked up the intake from the machine shop ($10 for what he called "the dishwasher", lol, clean as a whistle!!).
I modified the up pipe with the Elite Diesel EGR delete kit.
My dad changed the injector o rings and copper washers.
He also modified the intake manifold for the EGR delete.

When I pulled the driver side head yesterday, I forgot to take out one pushrod, and bent the crap out of it. Well, I forgot that I bent the pushrod, until it was time to put them all back in today, at 410pm. I called the dealer here in Norwalk, he said he didnt have any, but two dealers about 30 min away had them. My dad ran up to Milford to get one, and made it by 525, they closed at 530. They had 7 in stock. Got the one, $4.35. Sweet.

While he ran up there, I put the injectors, pushrods (minus the one), rocker arms/stands, and all the ARP hardware. Tomorrow AM, BIG cup of coffee, a HUGE bowl of Wheaties, and torque them suckers!!!!!

I plan to get those torqued, valve covers on, intake and turbo on, hope my dad gets the AC system in (I didnt see how any of it came off), and get the Magnaflow system on.

Friday is a no work day (kinda sux actually lol). Sat is supposed to rain. Sunday I plan to fire that beast! Still have to chase down some AF. Anybody have any options besides the Motorcraft Gold?

Notes from today-
-heads are heavy, make sure your lats and biceps are in shape!
-dont leave any push rods in when you pull the heads, they dont like that
-you DONT need to cut the heads! mine were pretty darn straight. get out the razor blades and wire brush, and get to scrapin'!