So I just spent an entire week of continuous work replacing the head gaskets on my 95 4runner 3.0. When I started putting all the external engine parts back on, I realized that I had the exhaust manifold gaskets on the wrong side. Pass on drivers side and drivers side on passengers side. I was already pretty far into reassembly, had the heads and cross over all bolted down. I didn't think it would be an issue.

I finally have everything together, the timing is right, everything else runs great. It's just loud now. It wasn't before. I took it to a local shop so they could flush the coolant and I asked them about the noise and told them what happened. They are telling me that having the gaskets on the wrong sides would cause it. It's definitely an exhaust leak making the noise.

I guess my questions are, how much of a PITA is it going to be to flip them around to the correct sides. Any tips to save time. Any other information or ideas will be much appreciated.

Also, since they are on the wrong sides, the one that's on the drivers side (it's supposed to be on the pass side) was too long to reattach the oil dip stick. So I used a dremmel and trimmed off about 3/8" of the metal to get the dip stick to bolt back on. Is that going to affect anything when I put it back on the other side?

Here is a pic of the old gasket I took off the head. This is before I took the heads in to be cleaned up and machined. So everyone knows what I'm talking about.

I had absolutely zero mechanic skill before this job, but now I feel i have a few more.

 

I haven't worked on a 3.0 in a while I don't know if you can get to the exhaust manifolds with out taking a lot off. Get new gaskets. It's a good learning experience, make sure it's done right the first time you're doing it.
Hey, at least your learning new skills.