mazda e2000 head gasket help please

[Brettsky64]

Hi all my land rover discovery is fine but my camper van is not. I assume becauase of the oil in the radiator and loosing radiator water means my head gasket has gone.
What I am asking is, can I take out and replace the head + gasket with the motor in the van?
other wise I am up for a $1500, Not happy Jan.
Your opinion would be gratefully appreciated.
Brett on the Gold Coast.

[Pierre]

Brett, you can do it without taking the engine out. Get as much access as you can through the engine cover by removing all the removable panels around it, and the seats. The only real pita is the front bits - alternator, etc, which you have to access from beneath afair. It's awkward, but doable.

Pete

[POD]

As above, they are a relatively simple engine to work on, accessing the front of the motor from under the van is no more difficult than many engines accessed from under the bonnet. It's been many years but I used to work on these all the time, as far as I recall we never took the timing cover off to do a head gasket. If you suspend the camshaft sprocket from above prior to removing the camshaft, i.e. keeping the timing chain tight, you won't lose cam timing. Just a matter of getting the head off without losing tension on the chain- we had a special tool that sat on a lug in the timing case so pushed the chain up from below, but it can be done by suspending the sprocket from above.
That said, if the timing chain is near due for replacement, this is the time to do it, along with the rails and tensioner.

[Pierre]

Brett, we used cable ties to maintain chain tension and position.. POD's spot on with the other tips.

Pete