Installing Head Gasket and Head Bolts

"Just for my future reference is there any one on here that would be willing to give me a hand installing a head gasket and head bolts on my 2JZ-GE engine? I've been quoted a ridiculous price for this work to be done! I got a vague idea what to do but to be totally honest minor head work/timing isn't my speciality so I could really do with someone who has experience as a guiding hand. Obviously I can pay the right price unlimited cups of tea etc etc... So just to confirm the installation of a thicker head gasket and ARP Head bolts which need to be torqued up correctly. Cheers in advance"

"Its easy fella. i think the thing people have the biggest problem with is starting purely because once you start it cant really move til its done and its just incase something goes wrong which sometimes means $$$to put right(not the case usually though). if you find out the timing procedure weather it be holes to lock the cam/crank or flywheel or just marks on the pulleys themselves. i put no1 @tdc compression. lock it up whip everything off making a note of where the cams are on the head.(assuming its going to skim/pressure+crack tests) then just put it all back together. obviously with the correct sequence's for tightening _Ǭ£40 torque wrench from halfrauds tighten up to spec no problems. might aswell chuck a belt +tentioners on whilst its all down aswell for that bit of extra cost."

"i love the way you make it sound litterally that simple haha! its things like this i wish i had a garage i really do! as id have the car in bits everywhere its a nightmare to have to do all maintenance outside and then what ever you do that day the car needs to be secure over night and everything packed back inside the house again. could you enlighten me a little bit about how the timing works exactly as thats one thing i dont really get tbh haha"

"Johny has it pretty much to the tee there! To replace the head gasket you usually need to remove both the inlet and the exhaust manifolds timing chain or belt covers and belt/chain. Then Drain the coolant remove the rocker cover loosen all the head bolts and then remove the head. Once the head has been removed ideally your going to want to have it presure tested to see if its cracked it should also be checked to make sure it is still straight and true. Depending on the results you may need to have the head repaired and or machined. All the head bolt holes need to have there threads cleaned up and then you have to re-build the engine back up. Its a lot of labour and this makes the job expensive. I tend to just pay a mechanic near me to do it as a gubby job as the more cams you have the longer job this will be. hope that helps everyone"

"timing- wow this is a quite large topic lol if you type valve timing in youtube i'm sure there will be a vid but briefly..... Obviousley The pistons(controlled by the crank) cannot touch the valves(controlled by the cam/s) . Both have sprockets and are connected by a belt/chain (or on commercial vehicles pulleys) the sprockets have marks on them which vary from engine to engine I.e i did a Head gasket on a freelander last month and it had marks for TDC(top dead centre No1 ) and degress before TDC (for injection purposes) then usually on the other end of the cam you have a distributor /arm and cap which makes sure the spark goes to the correct cylinder on the correct stroke. As for the head when its removed i always have a light skim done. 6 thousandths of an inch which is less that a sheet of paper. also another thing to recall is with headbolt they are stretch bolts (by design) so if you re-use them there is a possibility that one may break so they advise new ones are used also depends on age. Another thing (lol i could go on alll day lol) once the head is off dont move the pistons in the block which is easy to do. This depending on the engine can dislodge the liners causing a loss of compresion or coolant to leak into the sump. Also another reason on the rover Kseries engine (fitted to lotus rover MG landrover and some caterham iirc) is that the head bolts secure the crank end caps in position so if you move the crank whilst the head is off the caps will more than likely drop off or your certain to spin a shell (shell bearing)which if left untreated is terminal . sorry for the long drawn out post "

Waaa uuh. It might sound easy to you guys but i've never done a HG/timing before. BTW everyone on clubna-t who put turbos on there na supras haven't 'skimmed the head'. Is this really necessary?

"weather it needs a skim or not its good practice to get it checked either way. for Example some div didn't torque up in sequence last time =warped head =premature HG failure etc etc etc . better safe than sorry for the cost. PLUS whilst the head is off. if your putting it straight back on your losing valuable oppertunity for some porting and polishing and bigger valves and cams "

" Totally agree with all above.... couldn't of put it better myself.... "

hit the nail on the head there johny

"I AM KING lol dont you agree that headweork would complement your turbo lovely."