I'm in the middle of a headswap (take off 243's), and by far the biggest pain is cleaning up the block. I've only finished the passenger's side and called it a day so I can put in some study time. I'm not looking forward to cleaning the driver's side. I must say though, a few tips I came across posted by a few of you guys really helps out. For one, using a shop vac on the block where the water pump goes sucks out any excess coolant so it won't drain out of the head when you go to pull it off. This saves time by not having to stick a paper towel down the bolt holes. Another tip I read on here was on unbolting the power steering pump. Instead of losing your mind trying to figure out how the heck you're going to fit a wrench over the 15mm bolt, just use a 13mm wrench to get the bolts behind the pulley and unbolt the pump from the bracket. Much easier that way! Also, the green scotch brite pads work well for taking off the gasket material, don't get me wrong you still have to put in a lot of muscle to scrape off the gasket, but it's easier with the pads.

Well, thanks for listening to me rant about how much cleaning the block sucks...

 

Thanks, this really makes me forward to doing mine any day now This is the only part I'm not looking forward to.

 

Not gonna lie to you, it is the most tedious part of the swap. I only hope it will be worth it. I'm just glad I got ARP head studs and GM MLS gaskets, so hopefully this will be the only time I have to clean.

 

for those of you planning head swaps in the future get one of these
http://www.goodson.com/store/templat...d80215eba8bf6f

worth every penny

 

Looks like a nice tool to have around. Wouldn't you run the risk of gouging the block with that tool, like using a razor blade?

 

ya seriously scratching is not good... would think plastic would be the better choice

 

You'll appreciate those ARP studs even more if you have to pull those heads back off. It's a lot quicker and no bolt holes to clean out again.

Just make sure you check all of them to ensure they are seated all the way. When I pulled mine back off, just about everyone of my studs had loosened up when I pulled the nuts and washers off.

Good luck!

 

the tool is not knife egded, it actually has a blunt face; if you use a little caution and get the feel of the tool gouging risk is minimal IMO

 

Brake cleaner spray on will lift the gasket in about 5min.

 

headsup on:
"Also, the green scotch brite pads work well for taking off the gasket material".
This material has abrasives in/on it. It will, if allowed to get in the engine, do a number on the bearings....

 

I used a plastic ice scraper (for windshields) to get the gasket material off when I had to pull my pass side head during my cam swap. It worked for getting most the stuff off, then i went over and scrubbed to get the rest of it off.

 

I used a razor blade and was carefull. No problems after a few thousand miles.

 

I bought a few plastic window scrapers to get the major pieces of the gasket off. From there, a combo of carberator cleaner and liberal use of scotch pads made the surface like new. Took less than an hour to do both sides...


Just clean up the area well after you're done, and theres no harm done!

 

My dad was a mechanic when I was a kid and I wanted to help him work on cars, he wanted me to do anything other than work on dirty old cars. So he said to me "Scraping gaskets is the shittiest part of any job, here's a putty knife scrape off all these gaskets, if you still want to work on cars after this I'll teach you more!". How prophetic those words are still, Look on the bright side at least every other gasket is an o-ring.

 

I'm very glad for that!

 

I used a scoth brite pad with the drill adapter. Worked great, about 20mins for both sides. As with any abrasive you have to use caution on alum....

 

any harm in soaking the bejesus out of the gasket with brake parts cleaner? This looks like a nice option.

 

Acetone works well for getting the gaskets off. I just went to cvs and bought nail polish remover that was 100% acetone for like $4 worked great. I did wear rubber gloves just incase though. I also got a couple scotchbrite pads.