benwahballs

ok i did it....

Going over some pics of my hg job recently (currently 7 months in the progress) and I noticed something rather shocking... my pass side head is on my driver's side and vice versa.

ill allow a brief pause for laughter...

ok, moving right along. I am just at the point where the end was in sight (timing covers back on, PSP and alt installed), and everything was bolting up FINE. I wish there would have been some external signs of this (ie bolt holes not lining up) but there weren't.

So which of my gaskets are reusable? I'm thinking I have to replace the hg and the header gaskets (Downey), but the smaller ones (water bypass outlet, air intake manifold) with less pressure I'm assuming will be fine.

Also, is it possible I could have damaged anything by doing this???

thook

Neither of the headgaskets are reusable, for sure. Header gaskets I don't know about. The others should be fine. I put a head on backwards when I was doing mine, but I fortunately hadn't begun the tightening down, yet. I doubt you damaged anything since you hadn't fired the motor, but check the heads for warpage, just to be sure.

all_terrain17

Don't feel bad, at least you didn't destroy a timing set during installation...

And yes, I had to pull the head off my 22RE when I forgot some details too

benwahballs

awesome, thanks for replies, sucks i had to realize this on a fri afternoon...

got er torn back down to just the heads (with valve covers still on) so ill be waiting for those gaskets.

Also, I know the stock head bolts aren't reusable but anyone know about Fel-Pro head bolts?

thook

Yeah, that sucks. But, atleast you realized it!!!! Could have been much, much worse, ya know?

Ted's head bolts at engbldr.com are, and a good price with muy excellent service. He also has good head gaskets. But, check and make sure those stock bolts can't be reused. I mean you didn't fire the motor up. I could be wrong, but that may make a difference. It would be worth checking out. Come to think of it, Ted's a good guy to ask. Then you have him on the phone if you need new ones..hehe!

YA'LL!!!! Give Ted business!!! (He's really a good guy)

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

before you tear it all apart again...

Do you have a 3vz or a 5vz??|

The 5VZ are reversable.

benwahballs

3vz but thanks for the thought.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

doh! dang ol power steering mounts...

benwahballs

is that the only thing stopping them from being reversible?

Bumpin' Yota

im 90% sure that the 3vze heads are interchangable as well, you just have to turn the heads 180*. The distributor and distributor cam bearing cap will fit on both heads....

I would see if they were with my 2 heads, but one is already torqued down...

Targetnut

the heads are the same except for the caps. but I don't know if I would swap them. the bearings are machine matched and while it might just work you may find out it doesn't the hard way.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

noooo, the 3VZE heads are not the same. PS mounts guys.

And besides that, i am not 100% sure if that is the only thing stopping them from being reversable.

jasond

Are you sure you got them backwards??? No missing bolt holes for the p/s pump brackets??

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

yea...you never did say how you noticed that they were on backwards?!!

Bumpin' Yota

he probably noticed that the distributor stay on one of the bearing caps was at the back of the engine bay on the passenger side. If he had the bearing caps all off then there would be no way to tell what was what in terms of sides.

They are mechanically reversible, but for the reason TargetNut said, I would not reverse them....

Tigerstripe40

I was told that both heads are the same casting, and that during manufacturing, blank cam caps are installed, and the cam journals are then line bored.

benwahballs

Ok
I noticed becase one of the PS pump brackets in my pics from removal would slide into a stud, and upon install the stud was not there... hmmm. so i ASSumed i had just removed this stud when I removed all the other exhaust manifold studs (what do they say about assumptions?), but noticed some time later that WHOAH! Theres my missing stud on the back of my drivers side head... uh oh.

So, for the record, there are no missing PS Pump bracket holes. They all line up, but there is a space between the head and the PS pump bracket that I now realize shouldn't be there. Like I said originally, everything was lining up fine.

and Bumpin Yota, your right, thats why I put them on backwards originally, I think. I just assumed (grrr) again that because there was a spot for the distrubor gearing to come down to the cam, it would be the drivers side head.

Bumpin' Yota

hte power steering hookup is a bit goofy and it threw me a loop for about 2 hours....lemme dig up some pics for you, perhaps you didnt get it backwards?

benwahballs

I guess there's a chance (I didn't mark them, or else would not be in this embarassing mess) but I'm fairly confident they were backwards.

How about this? If you can remember if those silver motor support hooks (for pulling full motor, I'm assuming) both had one stud and one bolt to hold them down??? Or did the Driver's side hook have two bolts and the pass side use a longer stud so that the ps pump bracket as well as that hook can fit on it? A little confusing...
If you could just tell me on the driver's side if you have two bolts or one bolt one stud in silver motor hook, that would be sweet.

Bumpin' Yota

the driver's side lift hook bolts to the rear portion of the head (near firewall) using 2 14mm bolts. The passengerside lift hook is found on the front of the passenger side head and uses one stud and one bolt. You are correct that that stud goes trhough both the passenger side lift hook and the top portion of the power steering pump braket.