Motor needs a bottom end rebuild, thats getting done at a shop. Heads need to come off the car in advance to get some port work done to them.

Started tearing into my motor, have everything important done, just cant get the heads off. I should mention the only stuff i know about cars, are things ive already had to do on my car.

I have some old school ghetto SLP headers, and the last header bolt is too close to the firewall to be able to turn with a wrench from above or below, and the welds on the header tube mean no way to get a socket on.

So decided i would just unbolt the header at the downtube and pull the heads off with the headers still attached. Luckily i asked for a compressor and impact wrench over the last few giftworty holidays, because man are those bolts on there, which i was warned about. Unfortunatly impact wrench doesnt help with those two bolts that are right underneath the middle header tubes on both sides.

Any advice as to how to get these heads out of my car without pulling the engine. If all else fails i might just buy a picker and attempt pulling the motor, however i really dont know if i have enough faith in myself to do that in my garage.

 

I recently pulled my heads for the very first time on my IROC-Z (L98) it was pretty daunting at first. But once you get the hang of it then you're good to go. So dont give up, keep trying! What is preventing you from removing the heads? Is it those exhaust manifold bolts? One of mine broke when I removed it, had to drill the stud out of the head once it was off. Exhaust system bolts go through alot of heat cycles, seem to break easier than other bolts on the car (I also broke one of the y-pipe attaching bolts). When you run into a problem with one being stuck spray on some PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench and let it soak for a while. Some of the bolts I did three or four applications. Are you using the stock exhaust manifold bolts for those headers? I know the stock bolts you should be able to get a wrench or socket on them, dunno about aftermarket bolts though. But hey you know, even if those bolts are stuck, just remove all the head bolts and pull the heads. Its no problem to remove them with stuff attached, just more cumbersome. My friend had to remove his L98 drivers side head with the power steering pump still attached because the bolt was stripped, was fun helping him with that one. If all the bolts are out, pushrods removed, etc, etc just get a metal bar of some sort (as long as its strong), put a rag around it, put it in one of the intake ports on the head and leverage it off the block.

 

man when i built the first motor for my car removing the heads on the car was a snap.

took max of 3 hours.

pull the intake, exhaust, nubby wrenches make a best friend, as well as crawfoot wrenched for those hard to get to those header bolts.

heads aren't too hard but the best way i found to break the seal, was to use my spare tire lug wrench, with the flat head, and squeeze it between the block and the head and turn it, alot more pressure can be given to a point.

 

If the botttom end needs a rebuild anyway why not just pull the engine and do it with the engine out of the car?

 

they're doing it by hand, no hoist? lol....

 

no hoist, ive personally never even done it before, have a couple friends that have, would have to go buy a picker and do it in my garage, mostly just think ti would be such a headache to unbolt the trans from the engine, and i dont want to risk ****ing up the input shaft on my brand new tranny that went in last summer

I've just got to find a way to get at the last header bolt on the far side of the tube because i dont have enough room between the bolt and the firewall to get a normal wrench in, and cant get a socket over it cause of the welds on the header flange

what tool should i be using?

 

Well, what kind of bolt is it? Stock? If its stock I used a wrench from under the car.

About the prying thing between head and block, I would recommend you never do this because you might mess up the gasket mating surface on the block (and/or head). Maybe not that big of a deal if you're sending both the heads and block to a machine shop, but if you're just doing the heads and leaving the block in the car I wouldn't do it that way.