Head Removal

[6.5stayinalive]

A couple months ago I noticed bubbles in my radiator with the cap off at idle, I was filling up my overflow tank and couldn't drive far without overheating from lack of coolant in the radiator.
This past weekend, I decided to finally pull the heads off(just the driver's side so far, I'm having a hell of a time working around the turbo). I don't see anything obviously wrong with head that I've removed so far, the head-gasket seemed to have been sealing everything fine.
I'm attending a community college studying automotive technology, and I brought the DS head, upper and lower intake manifolds, and thermostat housing to the school to clean things up with the solvent tank.
Is there anything to keep in mind as far as head re-installation goes? Or maybe anything I can do performance-wise since I have it all apart?
Any input is appreciated.

 

[ak diesel driver]

have it checked for cracks or have it pressure tested. if good put it back together with head studs

 

[WarWagon]

To decide what head to pull on a V8 pull the thermostat out or the entire crossover and see what side is bubbling. Water pump belt off.

The heads and upper cylinders can crack. Gasket failure takes a trained eye to see.

The turbo is easy to get out of the way. Do so...

At this point you might as well pull the other head and check it out as well.

TTY single use head bolts, replace them or get the better ARP head studs. They will outlive the engine and more or less not have to worry about head gasket failure from stretched bolts . You will blow the bottom end out of the engine before the heads come off with ARP's on a 6.5.

Fresh injectors are a good idea if they are near 100K miles old.

 

[turbovanman]

The passenger side is easy, remove the fender liner, remove the turbo/manifold as one unit, the rest is cake.

If your stock, just get new bolts, if planning on some power, and/or milling the heads, get .010 head gaskets and studs. Carefully check the rocker arm buttons for wear, try to find some 84 cast style.

If your sig is right, wasn't it just rebuilt?

Replace the injectors too if you haven't recently.

 

[Husker6.5]

Cracked heads are sometimes hard to spot with the naked eye, a smear of Prussian Blue between the intake and exhaust valves will make the crack(s) really visible if they're there. Mine were easy to spot, since I had to limp home 60 miles, dumping 8 gallons of water through the system in the process, the cracks were wider than a hair and had cooked antifreeze streaks running out of them!

 

[Missy Good Wench]

The only way at the time is to get the other head off.

Get the turbo out of the way and the manifold off.

Easy way to get at the bolts is to remove the RH front tire/wheel (block it well) and access through inner fender flap

The most common issue is the head gasket.

Make sure that there is not a severely eroded spot where the gasket fire ring meets the block, as this is very common on the 4 end cylinders. Coolant migrates through from the large passage and causes electrolysis in that area.

As mentioned, cracks do form between the valves and can go through to coolant passage between the valves.

Preassure testing is the only way to check the heads.

Late 6.5's had crack issues on the number 8 cyl near the rear top of the cyl.

Look for signs of scuffing and coolant leaking into the area.

Keep us posted
Missy

 

[Husker6.5]

Hey, Missy, long time no hear on the forum. Welcome back!

 

[Missy Good Wench]

Hi
I been around, just had some health issues, and finally got that mess sorted out.

 

[Husker6.5]

Glad to hear that your health issues are under control. Not something that anyone should have to deal with, but there seems to be too many people here on the forum of late that have some severe issues to deal with, myself included.

 

[turbovanman]

Update?