Thread: New Cylinder Head

assuming you inspect the old rods and there is no damage to the cup or ball of the pushrod you got it all correct.


I use loctite 272 on the head side of the injector clamp studs.

another issue i have come across. there seems to be a fair bit of corrosion in my cooling system. i pulled the top hoses off and both ends of the metal pipe which runs over the head were corroded under the hose. also the two steel bits at the firewall which go to the heater matrix are very corroded. one of them had bits break off when i took the hose away.

any suggestions? can i sand back the corrosion and put rust proofing on it or is it much more serious. the heater matrix seems fine. think it was changed a bit before i bought it. seems in good condition and the floor doesnt have rust. the pipe over the head seems fixable. the two at the firewall im more worried about. also the cooling system in general? will i need much more involvment? most other parts are fairly clean and coolant was pretty clean. i do admit though probably has been too long since ive done coolant change. i will be taking radiator out completely to get it cleaned but im worried theres rot right through.

i have new water pump, viscous, all new hoses, new head, new expansion tank, new thermostat housing. which is all going on now as i do the work. is this going to be good enough to help the new head live a long life?

might bypass the heater matrix for the time being. dont have time to do all that part as well. summer starting so wont be a problem for a while. i will bypass the heater and plug up the pipes going to behind the dash. the rest of system a bit easier to clean and flush etc. plus with all the new bits shouldnt have too much crud left.

will slowly start to remove the heater pipes in the dash eventually and pull out heater core to get good look at it. i can do this though and still keep the car on the road if i bypass it. got guests coming in 2 weeks and dont have time to do it now.

Don't be afraid of putting up info on how you disconnected the heater. I live in Darwin, so removing that connection and keeping the water circulating internally sounds good to me.

to bypass the heater matrix,run a loop of hose from the outlet on the back of the head back to the return pipe.

for the return pipe, yet you can wire flay it back and then fill it and sand back, I usually use araldite, let it fully cure and then sand it to shape.

yes, all your preventative maintenance on the cooling system will be beneficial for your head having a long life, Id also suggest while you're doing all that that you do the thermostat or at least pull it and check it as well as doing the vacutator valve on the bleeder system thats down near the expansion tank. It might be worth considering the exapansion tank and cap as well.

got a fair bit done last night. basically pulled everything off ready for the head bolts. took me bout 3 hours. surprised how easy it is.

few pics. doesnt look too healthy. i hope the block is ok. i flushed it before i started this and water coming out seemed clean. guess will know when i take head off.

i have new thermostat as well and header tank. the cap on the tank is still fairly new so will keep it.

radiator will come out and go get checked out and cleaned out. looks in fairly good condition and never had major issues with heat so expect it to be ok.

just worried bout all the rust etc. didnt expect this. few pics of the grime i found. the insides of things look cleanish though. just round the edges its bad.

heater matrix pipes. pipe at back of head didnt look too healthy either.

sean p basically what blknight was saying is you loop a hose from that stub shown on this pic at the back of head, to the back of the long metal pipe that runs along the head. basically the two hose ends which go onto those firewall connections shown on my other pic. instead of joining them to the stubs at firewall, you join the hose ends together. so it loops back around and bypasses the heater matrix. but easier to get short loop of pipe and join the two ends at back of engine.

Would taking the heater matrix out of the loop cool the system that much?

I would have thought that the heater matrix would help cool if anything, seem just a little radiator?