Resolved Head removal

[Bigmike4g63t]

I was outside working towards removing the head to take it to a machine shop today and this is what is behind the lower timing cover.
There is a significant oil leak somewhere. I guess I will see more once I remove the head.

Will I need to get piston 1 to TDC before removing the head? I have read conflicting things.

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[curt-s]

TDC or stick a long something down one of the spark tubes and rotate until you find the halfway point between tdc and bdc

Two 17mm wrenches on the cam gear bolts and squeeze them together to release tension on the belt then walk the belt off. Release slowlyish. Works better if one is a ratchet to give you extra clearance for the belt to come off and not get caught up on a wrench.

 

[steve]

Will I need to get piston 1 to TDC before removing the head? I have read conflicting things.

No, but you will want to set it to TDC before you put the head on and align the cam sprockets with the dowel pins up also before you place it on the block.

 

[Bigmike4g63t]

Would it really matter if I changed out the clutch while all this apart or not? I do have to do that as well.

 

[dwb]

Would it really matter if I changed out the clutch while all this apart or not? I do have to do that as well.

Other than having some stuff out of the way for easier access, no, it doesn't make too much difference. You will likely do most of your work underneath anyway.

 

[Bigmike4g63t]

I ordered a tensioner tool from STM. Do I have to take the balance shaft belt off to remove the head?

 

[dwb]

No but the BS belt should be replaced along with the timing belt.

 

[Bigmike4g63t]

Yea I know. But reading a article on here that states to remove the balance belt. I ordered the tensioner tool. If the belt really needed to be removed first I was gonna see if it would be ok to just cut the belt off.

 

[dwb]

With the timing belt off it's one bolt to remove the tensioner pulley and off comes the BS belt. The balance shafts/belt have nothing to do with the head; it's all contained in the block/front case/oil pump.

 

[Bigmike4g63t]

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Does this look normal? The weird oval shapes on the 2 middle pistons are just lights from my flash.