TheCorvetteKid

Hey everyone,

OK, I'm swallowing my pride and turning to all of my Corvetteforum.com bretheren (especially those geographically close to me) for some REAL help now.

This is a "on my hands and knees" request to any kind-hearted Corvette & Chevy people in the Toronto/Aurora/Newmarket area here in Ontario Canada who would be willing to help me replace the head gaskets on my '89 coupe. I NEED REAL HELP HERE! I'm farmiliar with Corvettes, but my skill level is not high enough for a job of this magnitude. I've managed to take the intake plenum, runners, valve covers, throttle body, airpump, belt, and A/C compressor off of the car. But this is where things I fear are going to get scarry (things like the distributor, rocker arms, etc...)!

I'm not working both this week and next week - so I've got lots of time to dedicate to this. I figure with some help, the car should be back on the road before I go back to work. But without help the car may sit 'til next summer!

Please e-mail me or respond to this post if you're interesting in helping out a fellow 'Vetter.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post.


:cheers:

scorp508

Just keep taking crap off until you're down to where you need to be. Bag & tag EVERYTHING you take off, it will make reassembly SOOOOO much easier. It honestly is NOT a hard job, just takes time and a little bit of patience.

Have you drained the engine of coolant already?

FoolCrzy

65Z01

You've had the intake (runners) off, the headers are rather easy (remove the right side inner wheel well access panel to get at the clamp holding the AIR tube to the exhaust maniflod), the valve covers are rather simple to do, so you'll be nearly there.

Then you just need to remove some front accessories, unbolt the heads and remove them.

Have a set of ARP head bolts ready along with a good head gasket and a FelPro intake gasket set with some black RTV.

Drain about a gallon or so of coolant, clean all coolant out of the thermostat area to assure none gets into the valley when you pull the intake base.

Have confidence and use the Forum for any advice along the way.

With two weeks available you might consider having some head work done while they're off. Even a 3-angle valve job with a little pocket work would wake up your L98.

TheCorvetteKid

Hi Scorp,

Yeah, both the coolant and oil have been drained. In fact, I just pulled the oil filter off today too - In an effort to get as much oil out of the motor as possible.

I'll keep workig it - I still need to pull the passenger side exhaust manifold before I tackle the distributor and intake manifold. My biggest concern right now is the distributor itself. I've seen mechanics pull the cap off, then bump the motor over until the rotor is pointed forward so that they can reinstall the distributor in the same place during reassembly. I'm not sure if I need to do that here or if there's another way to reset the distributor during reassembly.

Thanks for the post.

P.S. Any idea how to hook up a remote under-hood engine starter on one of these engines? It's one of those button-type devices that mechanics use to crank the engine over when they're working under the hood. The book that came with my Equus remote engine starter doesn't explain much and I'm sure I'm going to need this thing when I go to set the lifter preload.

Thanks again.

scorp508

How did you drain the coolant? There will probably be a bunch in the block still.


Get something like white out.... take the cap off and put a ruler up against the distributor where the rotor is pointing to. Mark the intake manifolf, the distributor housing, and the rotor where they are. When you reinstall it line all 3 up. :)

jmr302

I agree with the other guys. Label all the wires with masking tape according to location or function, which ever is easier for you. You'll be amazed at how easy it is to reassemble everything once you've looked at it a while and the scariness of the project has worn off a little bit. The reassembly is slightly trickier but don't let that deter you. Make sure you torque the cylinder heads and intake manifold using the correct patterns and intervals. The rockers and distributor do require some specific procedures. You can dig them up in the archives here or post another topic. We're here for you!

TheCorvetteKid

Hi again guys,

I've been labeling everything with masking tape and a Sharpie. I'm not so much concerned about the wire harness connections though - i've got more than enough reference material and pics to help with that. The distributor and rocker arms are the big ones for me.

But I'll try what you've suggested - I'll mark the distributor and intake manifold with correction fluid before removing. Hopefully, that'll do it. I've just got to be careful not to wipe these marks off - I have a tendancy to clean the hell out of parts before I reinstall them.

Oh, and ALL the coolant and oil have been drained from my engine. In fact, with the exception of the power steering system, the engine is completely dry.

Thanks again guys.

scorp508

The most important things about this are probably....

1. Cleaning the block for the new gasket
2. Properly Torquing the head bolts in sequence
3. Properly Sealing and torquing the Intake manifold in sequence
4. Properly Setting the rockers

TheCorvetteKid

Hi Scorp,

Agreed. Any tips or suggestions regarging what you've mentioned?

Thanks again.

65Z01

Pull the dist cap, spark plugs, the water pump pulley and put a wrench on the damper bolt. Then move the crank till the rotor points to #1 wire. Put a mark on the front of the dist (at the plastic feed-through), where the rotor is pointing now, and then one where it points just as you lift the dist from the engine. This latter will be your reference when dropping it back in and the former the reference to assure it's installed correctly.

Put each rocker arm, pushrod, spring, retainer, keys, etc into a separate lableled zip-lock. Note which end of the push rod is up. Put a socket over the valve tip onto the retainer and rap it several times to loosen the keys. Use a magnetic wand to remove/install the keys (I put a towel down just in case I drop one so it doesn't disappear). Get a new set of keys anyway, to avoid a dropped valve later. Don't try to pull/install the heads with the pushrods in place.

To set my rocker arms I turn the crank till an intake is closing and set the corresponding exhaust valve to zero lash plus 1/2-3/4 turn. Then I turn the crank till an exhast valve is just opening to set the intake valve lash. Note that zero lash isn't realy critical as there isn't much of a turn difference between "just felling resistance as you twirl the pushrod" vs realy feeling resistance. I adjust to 1/2 turn plus a small bit so have some leeway.

If you see any oil at the back of the engine, disassemble the oil sender unit behind the dist and reseal all the fittings before installing the intake base.

Also, the connector to the EGR temp sensor is buried behind the dist; you may find it convenitent to splice some wire to bring that connector out to the right of the dist for easier access.

2001 Z06

Get you a instant camera and take plenty of pictures if you are unsure. :yesnod:

TheCorvetteKid

Hey guys,

OK, so I've pulled the distributor cap and found that the rotor is pointing exactly 90 degrees (towards the driver's side) from the front of the engine. Just dumb luck I guess. I've marked the position on the distrubutor itself with a permanent marker. I haven't pulled the distrubutor out yet though - when I do, I'll mark the second position of the rotor as suggested by 65Z01. I was thinking about putting two additional corresponding marks - one on the distributor shaft and one on the hold-down bracket (passenger side). I figure this could act as an additional indication as to where the distridutor should go once reinstalled.

Any thoughts or additional words of wisdom? Should I still rotate the engine 'till the rotor is at the #1 one plug or is 90 degrees to the centreline of the motor OK? I figure the distributor cap only goes down one way and there's no adjustment for it, so spinning the motor to the #1 position may be pointless. But you guys no better than I do so I'm all ears.

Thanks again guys. I really do appreciate the support.

Rick86

The reason it is important to get the engine to TDC on #1 cylinder is that it is repeatable. There is nothing wrong with marking the rotor and distributor where they are and then pulling it, should you have to rotate the engine after you pull the distributor it will be harder to get it lined up. You can line the engine up with timing mark on harmonic balancer with 0 degrees on the marker. This will get you either TDC on #1 or #6. To check look to see if the rotor is pointing at #1 or #6 sparkplug wire. This will help when you set the rocker arms. Good luck and ask questions when in doubt.

DON M

Have faith my man, you can do it. All of us from Ligenfelter on down had to start some where. The learning curve is half of the fun and there is great satisfaction in saying "I did that".
Good luck,
DON M

pablocruise

wow! congratulations on having the huevos to do the job yourself! way cool! Never fear, as this forum will save you every time also. In case you lose the marks on the dist you can easily line it all back up. Rocker arms no biggie either, just tedious, time consuming. You can totally do it tho!!!!!
:lol: right on! :cheers: :smash:
that is absolutely hilarious

TheCorvetteKid

Hey guys,

Just give a quick update for those following the saga:

I've turned the engine over 'till I got the mark on the balancer to 0 degrees (the rotor was pointing to #1 plug). I then marked the rotor's location on the ditributor and the distributor's location on the hold-down bracket. While pulling the distributor, I marked the second location when the rotor stopped turning. Both the distributor and intake manifold are now off. The heads will probably be off before the end of the day tomorrow.

Thanks for all the help guys. I really do appreciate it.

I'll keep you all posted and ask more questions as I go.

Thanks again.

Sharky Guam

Keep the momentum going. It looks like the rest of the guys are doing well keeping you on track. I'll jump in there if I see something any different. I don't want to confuse you figuring that they are doing good so far.

If worse comes to worse, buy me a round trip ticket and I'll come up and give you a free hand at doing the job! :lol: :lol:

Good luck! You have some guts to do it blind.

One thing is for certain though, you have a great bunch of guys from the forum behind you!

:cheers:

TheCorvetteKid

Amen to that.

The Example

...And here I am bitching about how much of a PITA it was to get to my radiator...and I'm still not done with the stupid thing!


I wish you luck!