Here is how far I have gotten, I need a little direction now.

 

probably take off the intake stuff. Take off the pulleys or whatever it takes to get to your timing chain take it off. remove valve cover. and distributor and unbolt the head. Rough guess. Or get a manual they help a lot

 

I have a manual... and I've read the section where it talks about removing the valve cover to adjust the valves. I don't know of another section that states how to take of the head and all the intake stuff. Thanks for the input. I will continue to read everything I can find.

I also need a little help w/making sure the engine (piston 1) is tdc compression for the removal of the distributor. I had read that the intake and exhaust should be closed at this point which makes sense, but I couldn't seem to get this to happen when I was turning the pulley at the end of the crank.

 

just search. Its been gone over a lot and there are lots of pictures.

 

Take the valve cover off. There should be a little notch on the crank pulley. Using a 17mm ( thats what it was on my '93) socket, turn the crank CLOCKWISE until it is at the "0" on the timing marker. Check the rockers on number 1 cylinder (both). if they are NOT under tension, it should be at compression TDC.

 

take the #1 cylinder spark plug out and turn your crank until the timing mark reads 0. Check to see if the piston is at tdc through the plug hole. Buy a Haynes or Chiltons manual or better yet get a fsm and read first. I am not trying to be a horses "A" , but the more you read now the less you will have to ask later. If you need anything pm me. I just rebuilt my friends this past week.

 

http://www.ncttora.com/fsm/index.html


I dont know what year ur rig is, but seeing as its carb'd, the first link on this page should have all you need....download the file, and open it up.

 

I have the fsm and have read quite a bit. This is my first time taking apart an engine. Just making sure I do it right so I can have my dd back up and running soon.

Can the intake be left on when removing the head (w/the exception of a few hoses) or does it need to be removed? it's hard to tell if it has to be removed or not. Thanks. This is my next step.

 

do you plan on having your head machined (re-surfaced). It would be a good idea about now, since you will have the head off. Are you doing just a basic head gasket replacing or are you going to run the whole gammut(valve job, re-surface,new tim.re-place,etc...)? That will determine whether you need to remove your intake or not. If not, then you could remove the head and intake as one unit. THE most important thing to remember when removing the head is to unload(release the tension) the cam in increments. Otherwise you could end up damaging the cam journals or the cam itself. You do this by loosening the cam bolts a half turn at a time in a circular pattern starting from the center bolts working your way out ward. You could disconnect the cam gear before doing this and remove the gear, you will need to anyways to get the head off, don't worry about the chain falling down,and as for top dead cent, you will be able to see the piston upon removal of the head. Also might want to remove the dist. and fuel pump before attempting to remove cam gear. Gotta feed my 3 year old, i'll check back later...

 

Just follow what the FSM says. If any manual is right its that one. If you cant do it even with the manual you might want to find help from a friend who can.

 

lol. Carefull there, you do that to much and your gonna end up having to put it through college.

 

lol.... thanks for the input. This will help out a lot. I will post up later. I plan to put up some more pics of the process in a .pdf for those who need them and hopefully it can be made readily available to those who want them.

 

pear shaped exhaust? The ports on the block are pear shaped (look in pic in above posts), does this mean it is? May be a dumb question, but the ports on the manifold are round, which is why i'm asking. Thanks





other end of manifold:

 

What does the head look like? Does it have the pear shaped exhaust ports?

Rob

 

lol did you even look at the pictures? they're pear.

whats all this talk about worrying about TDC? Pull the valve cover OFF. Take out the distributor (who cares where it is at this point it dont matter). Pull the cam bolt, remove the cam sprocket.. zip tie it the chain. Rest it in the chain guides.

Follow the headbolt losening sequence in the fsm, Pull the head, you can either take the intake off now, or later thats up to you.

dont forget to remove the hidden bolt in the oil pool at the front of the head.

fyi, you didnt need to completely remove your exhaust manifold from your headpipe.

 

is the timing chain guide in the pic above the stock one(Driver side one)? I don't remember seeing this on my timing chain, but will have to look when I get back to the garage. I'm thinking my problem is induced from the timing chain rather than the head gasket. (coolant magically disappearing)

 

My driver side timing chain guide went bad and sawed through the timing cover. Coolant mixed in the oil ie bad. Look to see if that happened, I also suspected a head gasket but that was what happened to my truck. I have always pulled the head and lower intake manifold as one unit, mine is fuel injected but I would assume you could do the same with carbed. Do exactly what drew303 said and don't forget the hidden bolt at the front of the head. http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b.../7cylinder.pdf

 

you should have two guides coming up above the block (like in my pic). Common issues with the guides are, a) they wear completely through and b) the snap off right where they project above the block surface.

when they snap, (metal rattles which sounds like a loose chain) plastic ones disintegrate and end up in the pan. As 93toy mentioned, the chain can wear through the cover and into the coolant passage.

your oil will look like chocolate milk, literally.

 

Do you notice any white smoke from the exhaust? Or I should say, did you?

could be leaking coolant from the rear of the head onto the tranny. That's a fairly common coolant leak. Or from the water pump, or from the coolant line that connects into the bottom of the intake manifold (usually from a cracked hose)...

All places to look.

I get to go replace a water pump on a 22r now, LoL speaking of coolant leaks. be back later

 

all of these are very good suggestions. The oil is a little chocolate milk looking. Can you see where the chain wears in the cover into the coolant passage without taking the cover off? I do not have the timing chain cover off yet and I do not see a chain guard on the driver side and if I look down the chain on the driver side I can see where it is rubbing grooves into the metal. How did you fix the problem where it rubbed into the passage way?