Helping a friend do a head gasket on a 96 LT1 Vette. The top end has been disassembled and heads are back from the shop (glad because they were warped). Car had a water pump failure by the previous owner. He had the pump and opti replaced and when he got the car back together the shop told him... oh yea the head gasket blew. Well he just ended up selling the car afterwards to my friend.

Anyways...

I used some carb cleaner and scotch brite pads which seem to work decent. I'm going to use a scraper too but wanted to see if anyone has some tips.

I'm worried about 2 things

The head bolt threads. Should I carefully use a tap on them to clean them out or a bolt maybe?

The coolant is just orange and rusty looking, what would be the best way to flush the engine out? Should we wait until the car is assembled and running to flush the coolant or do it now somehow? **EDIT** Didn't realize there was a coolant plug in the block. Going to pull it and let it drip down. Yes the garage floor was a bit messy when we pulled the heads lol

Thanks for the help guys.

I did search threads with various keywords but wasn't finding anything surprisingly that really answered my questions about the block and head bolt prep.

Wojtek

 

If the coolant is the Dex-Cool, it's supposed to be orange. Since you have now drained the block, maybe after you get it running you can do a flush out. Sounds like your prep work on the gasket suface is good, but do a final wipe with acetone or brake cleaner on a clean rag just before laying the gaskets down. The rag must be clean after the wipe, if not then keep wiping until it is. Finally, DON'T use a standard tap to clean out the head bolt holes. It will remove material from the threads. There are "cleanout" tap kits readily available at just about any tool place. Harbor Freight has them, I know. They will remove the gunk from the threads without getting into the metal of the threads themselves.

 

and thats pretty much it. but x10000000000000000 on using a cleanout tap

 

Thanks guys. I ended up using an old bolt that I grinded down on 2 sides. Thread holes and surface looks good. I'm going to get some brake cleaner tomorrow to do the wipe before the heads go on.

I also wiped down the lifter valley with some shop rags. There was sludge all on the walls from the oil mixed with coolant. Nasty.

Besides an oil change after running a couple minutes anything else I can do to rid the block of some of that sludge?

I'm going to do a radiator flush after it's all done as well and fill some clean Dexcool

 

Head surface was completely clean. I ended up using a 3m surface prep wheel (those little plastic discs) to get some gunk off around the coolant passages.

Big problem now. Got to my 3rd pass with my torque wrench which was a 50ft/lb pass (did 20lbs, 35lb first) and I snapped a frigging bolt. It wasn't turning hard or anything. I wasn't using excessive force. It just started off loose actually so I went a half turn and POP.... the thread snapped only on the bottom... not near the head (I wish so I could just use a frigging extractor without taking the head off again).

Now questions lol (although I'm crying inside):

This is bolt #2 on http://shbox.com/ci/head_assy.jpg

Does anyone know why this could happen? All my thread holes were chased twice.. once with carb cleaner and a wrench and then another run for good measure with my fingers and some carb cleaner (the threads were clean and just screwed right in). The hole was blown with air and shot with carb cleaner multiple times to make sure it's clean.

The bolts were brand new Felpro part #ES72856 bolts. I used Permatex High Temperature Thread Sealant on them. The bolts did have their own sealant on all threads straight from the box, but I put more on. Is it possible since that bolt hole doesn't open to the coolant that the sealant caused pressure and did not allow it to spin further down? I did use clean oil on the head where the bolt head would touch to reduce friction for accurate torque readings.



I don't have an extractor so what would the best one to use be?

There's a Sears near me but I know they carry various types. I wanted to get this done as quick as possible before the thread sealant sets.

Thanks everyone!!!

 

I called my buddy in Chicago and he said it should come out easy since there is no load on the bolt anymore. I hope he's right. Going to go grab an extractor from Sears


Would I be able to reuse the head gasket after 35lb pass and the start of the 50lb pass?


I rather spend the extra $40 on a new gasket if it's an iffy thing but if it's totally fine I'll reuse it

 

Ive heard of people re-using them and getting away with it. I think you'd be allright but as you know the only way to be 100% is to buy new ones.