rlordjr

Well I just finished up the HG on the old 3.0 and while it is still fresh in my mind, and on my hands, I thought I'd write up some notes for those who haven't done it yet. And maybe bring back some memories for those who have. No real order to these. EXCEPT THIS ONE: GET A DAMN IMPACT WRENCH!! A good one! 1/2 inch. It will save you: time, money, knuckles, cuss words, broken parts, etc. GET IT!

You don't have to take out the rad or take off the throttle body or the EGR or the Pair thing.
You don't have to take out the cams if you plan to re-use the bolts. (Re-use is a WHOLE OTHER SET OF THREADS you can search on if you want to see how the advice runs.)

Tearing the engine down once a year makes it easier to do each time.

Deck/shave the heads if you've never had it done.

Use some copper gasket spray on block and head. Oh yes, clean, clean, clean those mating surfaces. Don't use power tools on the heads. Green 3M pads and lots of gasket remover and gentle scrubbing and finishing with brake keen or acetone.

If you use a razor scraper, keep it at 90 degrees to the surface and pull it towards you. See how old-time furniture makers used scrapers to smooth large flat surfaces. If you try to use it like you would to remove stickers on glass, you'll gouge the heads.

If you don't pull the cams and all the bolts you'll want to wire the head bolts up to the cams (pulling them up as far as they will go) to ease removal and install. When the bolts are up as high as they will go, the bolts will be totally inside the heads and not sticking down anymore.

You CAN pull out both heads with the crossover attached, but you should be strong like bull and/or have help. Also have to have the bolts all the way out or wired up to do this.(angle of the V6 makes it impossible with bolts hanging down)

Also, you can remove the crossover with everything in place. Refer back to the "tear it down once a year" for this one. Since I tore it down last year, I didn't have to fight any really stubborn. OH, now I'm going to add something to the top.

Think I'll post a second one for more.

rlordjr

More notes.

Beer. It is your friend. Not too much, but just enough to make the inevitable frustrations, cuts, gouges, scrapes and other painful things easier to deal with.

Use some bungees or rope from the hood to the roof rack and put the hood support down. Way easier to work around. Or just pull the hood off.

Anti-seize - use it when in doubt. Anything you're really cranking on will be easier to crank. Anything you have to remove will be easier.

ShopVac. Great for retrieving dropped bits of gasket and for sucking out all the old coolant from the block after you've cleaned the block and there are bits of junk floating in it.

HOSE DIAGRAM - thanks MudHippy - make sure you hook up all those hoses correctly. REMEMBER - There are only two fuel hoses on the battery side of the engine compartment. One is the supply to the fuel rail. The other is the return line. It connects to the last metal pipe towards the firewall and you can trace that metal pipe from the fuel pressure regulator.

PB Blaster - use a lot of it.

Replace the belts while you are there.

FIPG or Permatex #2 for coolant passage gaskets, corners of the valve cover gaskets AND for fixing that tear in the J-Hose that goes up under the intake plenum. Yeah, you know the one. Don't get a new hose, just slather the gasket-maker on the outside after you have it on and it'll be fine.

Oh, and do all the vacuum hoses as well while you have it all apart.

Lastly, regardless of what was written earlier, take off anything you think will make access easier - PS Pump, Alternator (you have to do this one), all the rubber, plastic intake stuff, exhaust down pipe back to CC, battery, radiator (if you want), fan (easy).

Oh, really lastly. If you have the option, just pull the damn motor. Really, there isn't much to it and once you have it out, everything about the HG becomes about 1000 times easier. If I EVER have to get into one of the motors again to this degree, it is coming OUT onto an engine stand.
Think about that, bell housing bolts, the exhaust down pipe, the normal intake stuff, hoses on the battery side of the motor, a few wires and groundstraps, the hood, and a shop crane.