I am going to finish lapping my valves and put the heads into the parts cleaner one last time before I assemble them with the seals springs and locks and all that jazz. I had a really rough time getting the drivers side head off with the header in the way. Passenger side was no issues and my sockets got on all the bolts straight so torquing them down should be no problems but the drivers side I am afraid I can't get the right torque on each bolt because getting a socket on them is going to be difficult so does anyone have any hints tips tricks or strategies to get the header out of the way... moved...shifted etc. to get the bolts straight on with sockets for torquing them? Like use a certain tool or tie it to the hood or pry it up and out or something to help make this easier and get accurate torquing on these bolts. I pulled the header out of the slip collector in the y pipe so I can move it around but that did not seem to help and in alot of cases the bolts got obscured by the header pipes cause the header kept dropping down into a bad position and I started rounding off the 3 front lowest bolts, behind the P/S pump on that bottom edge row of bolts next to the spark plug holes and if I round them off getting them back on the torque specs will be wrong and I might have leaks and problems right away. I used wobble extensions and u joint sockets and all to get them out so I'd like to keep using the 1/2 inch sockets if possible due to how much torque these bolts need. I don't think the 3/8ths sockets will work, they will break under that amount of umph and the u joint extension I'm sure will snap and the torque wrench 1/2 inch to 3/8ths adapter i have to step down sizes because I don't have a 3/8ths torque wrench. I own only 1/4 and 1/2 inch torque wrenches so the 1/4 inch does not allow torquining that tight and of course it would snap and I think the adapter will as well. So I will gladly take any hints or strategies you all have discovered to help tackle this problem. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has run into this issue before.

thank you all in advance.
Jay.

 

Step 1: Remove headers

Step 2: install heads

Step 3: Reinstall headers

Trying to do this with the headers in the way sounds like a great way to screw something up, and have a bitch of a time doing it.

Also, good luck getting all of those header flange bolts to line back up perfectly when they're still bolted to the Y-pipe.

 

Disconnect them from the y-pipe and get them out of the way. I used some zip ties to keep the driver side header out of the way. The passenger side is so easy to install that I just pulled it all the way out.

 

Yeah passenger side is not the issue and I just pulled the header back and it gave me adequate room to get the headbolts out without any interference but the drivers side was a mess. No matter how I moved the header it was completely blocking all the lower row of bolts. So I slipped it out of the Y pipe and it still was completely blocking the bolts so I wanted to see if anyone maybe pulled the motor mount bolts and propped the engine up an inch or two??? Or maybe did something else to make enough room to get the socket on the bolts correctly to not screw up the torque on them all in their proper sequence. As far as removing the header from the car, I think I'd have to unbolt the cradle from the frame and I don't know if that's a wise move and what all has to be disconnected to actually lower that K member sub frame cradle??? I have the car on my lift and I don't have any jack stands tall enough to hold the K member. I just have regular aluminum jack stands for floor type use, not very tall at all (I'll have to look into getting a trans jack or 3 .4..5 foot tall jack stands next year) but for now i don't have ones that measure much more than a foot and a half tall so I think that won't work. I could unbolt the motor mounts and put a jackstand under the harmonic balancer and a block of wood and raise the motor up 2..3 inches would that maybe work? Again open to suggestions. And the drivers side header is still disconnected from the slip collector on the Y pipe so it's just sitting there unsupported and attached to nothing so the angle of the dangle is free moving... hah!!!
I was going to opt for head studs over standard head bolts but I thought I'd run into more problems doing studs and nuts than buying normal head bolts so I went with regular head bolts, the torque to yield stock style bolts. So please chime in and let me know what you all have done to get correct torque on your head bolts with headers sitting there in the way.......
thanks all


Jay.

 

Loosen the y-pipe at the merge collectors and then remove the exhaust manifold bolts. From there you should be able to the turn them away from the cylinder heads so you can remove and replace them. Might be easier to just remove them and reinstall from up top too.

 

I just pulled the Y pipe off and let the headers dangle in the engine bay when I swapped heads with the engine in the car..do whatever works for you, but if it's that tight and you are having trouble getting sockets on the head bolts I'd rather pull the header than risk f*cking up the bolt or cross threading it somehow.

 

Whatever you do, don't jack your engine up by the balancer, you could possibly damage the crank. I have ran into this same problem before, and I got the heads situated on the block, then pulled the motor mount bolts and jacked up the engine using a block of wood under the oil pan. This gave me enough clearance to torque my head bolts. Be glad you didn't get studs, IIRC, you can't pull the heads in the car if you have them.

 

That's not correct. Once the ARP nuts and washers have been removed you can lift the heads up to remove the coolant before removing the studs which are allen keyed and only hand tight. Either way you'll need to blow out all of the holes in the block with compressed air before reinstalling the studs or bolts.

 

I've replaced headgaskets on an Fbody running studs with the motor in the car. The rear studs aren't funs but it's certainly possible.

 

I figured the same thing just pull the nuts off the studs then allen key the studs out which are give or take the same length as the bolts and pull the studs all out then yank the heads off but i figured with my particular problem which is these hooker headers were made wrong and hang down way too low and scrape everything because they are about 3 1/2 inches lower than the oil pan which protects the oil pan but it sits up high enough that the frame is about the same or 3/4 of an inch lower than the oil pan. Not sure why hooker made these headers so low hanging but it is what it is. The headers cannot come out without lifting the engine or dropping the K Member because they are a few inches longer in their down sweep length than other headers I've seen... my first 98 trans am (non ws6) I got MAC mid length headers and to install those I only needed to drop the one side of the K Member about 1 inch or 3/4 inch and the drivers side slipped in...pass side went in with just a little force and twisting and it slipped in without having to move anything out of the way minus the starter.
will lowering the car onto jack stands holding a big block of wood and motor mount bolts removed... push the engine up enough to get the lower row of head bolts on with no interference? If that works I'll do that and then just lift the car back up and off the jack stands with the block and put the motor mount bolts back. I thought this lift would be super e
helpful but with this project it is only making a few things more convenient but not as much as I hoped. Still rather have a lift vs floor jack that's for sure.

Thanks all. Appreciate the helpful words....

Jay.

 

I guess I was referring to leaving the studs installed in the block. Any time I've ever used head studs, they stayed in the block. But that was never on a 4th gen car. Obviously you can fully remove the stud, lol.

 

I don't think you would have enough room to pull the heads off the engine if you left the studs in place while it's in the car. The head would hit the brake booster and A/C stuff before it would clear the top of the studs so you would have to first yank all the nuts off then get the allen key and pull the studs out then pull the heads off while in the car. Only way I would see studs being helpful while the engine is in a gen4 f body. That "cab forward" design they used back then male's getting to stuff on these engines difficult because the windshield/dash covers half the engine so in the case of studs... can still be used just have to install Uninstaller them with the heads on the dowels first then go at it. I did not see much upside to doing studs on this particular engine with all the other stuff.going wrong the Fel Pro head bolts seemed to be my best strategy because while studs are better no doubt this engine is not worth all that and would not benefit from. Studs. There were a few stud sets that were only a few bucks more than the bolts I got like $54 bucks for a full stud set both sides I think. So I did not see how that would have been any benefit to me with this engine.

Thank you sir.

Jay.

 

You can't leave the back 2 studs in on an Fbody. The head will hit the Cowell. You can pull the heads if you pull the studs obviously.