Hey guys,
head gasket has gone on my 83' z28. I want to change it myself but have never undertook such a large job myself. Anyone got any advice or tips?
Thanks

 

I'm not about to write a book on it, but it's a fairly simple job. One mistake I made was letting the engine turn while the distributor was out. I had the car in gear and had to jack it up connect the exhaust, which turned a rear wheel enough to move the engine. Took me an extra day before I got the distributor lined up again so it would run.

 

Take lots of pictures at each step BEFORE you disturb the next thing you touch.

Put all the bolts, fittings, adapters, and whatever other parts in little plastic bags or something, with pics, notes, numbers, times, or however else you most comfortably think, so you don't end up like THIS guy, who took his pics at the END of the job after he'd already lost how it was originally, instead of the START.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...-injector.html

Especially considering that he had a piece o cake TPI motor, which has about 5 vac lines total, IOW about ONE FIFTH as many as your 83.

 

One more thing. While the heads are off they should be surfaced, or at least checked for straightness. Also check the valves. Do they all look the same or is one or more "different", indicating a burnt or bent valve. Get new valve seals. Look at the tops of the pistons to see if a valve has touched. When I did mine I got new head bolts because the guy in the parts store said so. However, these engines don't have torque-to-yield bolts like modern ones, so I could have saved myself $100.

 

Thanks everyone very helpful stuff.