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Cylinder Head Replacement

2K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  darrin1999 
#1 ·
I'm planning to replace the heads on a 1987 460 engine and I see that there are 3 exhaust manifold studs already sheared off. Any ideas on how I can prevent others from breaking when I try to remove them (other than WD-40 or PB)? The engine is in a motorhome with 31K miles. Given the low mileage, would it also make sense to change the hydraulic valve tappets while I have the heads off?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
 
#2 ·
I don't have any special tricks for preventing corroded studs from breaking during disassembly; somebody else might. You will probably need to repair those threaded holes while the heads are off the engine.

I do not recommend changing out the hydraulic lifters as they are broken in with the camshaft. 31K miles is little time on them anyway.

Paul
 
#3 ·
Thanks Paul for your response. I'll be replacing the factory exhaust with Thorley headers and converting to dual exhaust so that should help to prevent future shearing of studs.

Any tricks for popping the intake manifold and heads off? I don't want to mark up sealing surfaces by prying at the wrong places.

Regards,

Ron
 
#4 ·
for the heads- a good 5lb dead-blow hammer works pretty good for knocking them loose. the intake just use a flathead screwdriver and pry up the front- the front and rear seals suck anyways so when you throw the intake back down just use a bead of high temp rtv silicone on the front and back... just make sure you let it cure for a couple minutes before putting the intake back down.
 
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