Ross79xd

The water holes/jackets between head and block are almost closed off she's been together so long. What is the best way to clear them out??? While your at it whats a good way to clean up the block for reco heads to go back on, its a bit messy.Wire brush???

72 xa coupe

by the sounds of it you got a fair bit of sludge in the block etc it would be best to remove and jet wash clean block but then you get into a rebuild issue.
i would get a drill and drill water jacket holes then using a round file carefully file the corrosion only not the block material and as for cleaning up head mounting surface some emery paper wrapped around a flat piece of wood should do the trick.they also have wheels with scotchbrite type material on them that you mount in a drill and they do a good job eventually also.
also a liberal spray of gasket stripper onto surface then scrape with razorblade and finish off with sandpaper wrapped around flat piece of wood.
i am sure others will have different methods of doing what you ask. :)

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Ross79xd

Nice one cheers. Block is still in car and together, Do I have to worry about loose crap going down the water holes into the block or would that flush itself out anyway???

CLEVELAND JUNKY

Water holes would not matter as you could flush the block/heads before connecting the radiator. I would however plug the oil drain back holes, distributor hole and cover the valley as best as i could with an old sheet or something. Run a tap down each bolt hole, or at least use a head bolt with some WD40 followed by some compressed air or use an old vacuum cleaner to suck out the crap. Cut 8 circles (4 inches wide) out of an old carton, push 1 down each bore flat onto piston top and seal the edges with some grease. This stops any shit getting caught in between the piston and bore. Vacuum out any crap before removing the cardboard and wipe out any leftover grease. Make sure the gaskets are on the right way .

Ross79xd

Bloody beauty, Thanks for the help guys.

xdclevo

Just use something like a file or screw driver and put in the hole and scrape off as much as you can. Then just run a radiator sock in your top hose for a while to catch anymore rust getting into your radiator. Also, after taking off the heads, there will be quite a bit of old head gasket stuck to block. I just buy a packet of stanley knife blades(6 inch long ones) and after a bit of practice, you can remove whatevers on there quite easily. Then just wip clean with some metho just before fitting new heads/gaskets ect.

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