Im doin my headgasket and Im ready to pull the head off.. only problem is its stuck pretty good. Ive read to stick the wooden end of a hammer up an exhaust port and pull up for other cars but theres not enough room to do that with an EF. The intake mani is still connected to the head so I tried leaning over the head and pulling up on the back of the IM and no luck.

Suggest away.

 

did you unbolt the 2 bolts under the intake manifold?

 

Make sure that the bolts that connect the intake to the bracket under the intake are off. If thery are you can use a rubber hammer to hit the top of the intake.

 

yea i got the bracket bolts.. so get a rubber hammer and bang away at the top of the intake mani? Im assuming the chamber that the throttle body connects to..

 

just use a rubber mallet and tap the head till it breaks loose.

 

ha i just used a 4 foot pole and pryed it up on the cam side..worked like a charm after 30 mins of trying to get the head off....

 

congrats
was gonna suggest something liek that...only my thought was something a lil smaller than 4 feet

 

maybe ur exaust mani isnt unbolted (not sure if u removed it from teh head or unbolted it from the downpipe/cat. i know those nuts are pretty hard to get off with all that rust.

 

Just beat that **** with a iron pole...it'll come off

 

For one swap we couldn't get the headgasket off for the life of us, nothing we tried worked. Then I had the great idea since the motor was out of the car "Why don't we lift the motor." "How will that work?" my friend asks, "Simple," I reply, "We'll mount the chains to the head itself."

So up it goes and first I just remove all slack in the chains...nothing. Move it up so the oil pan has cleared the ground by an inch or so....nothing. Take it up to about six inches, nothing. While it is the air we're pushing as hard as we can down on opposing sides, one of us on the drivers side engine mount and one of us on the transmission. Guess what, nothing. So my genious Nissan lover of a friend gets on the transmission (Mind you it is still suspended) and holding onto the head for balance starts jumping on it. Nothing yet though; then the fateful line - "Respect...my...NISSAN...AUTHORITY!!!" Wabaam! Head free of block

~Disclaimer~ Children, do not try this at home. This was done by professional fools who did have the time to replace anything that could have been destroyed in the 6 inch fall. Have a nice day

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dr_latino999 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">For one swap we couldn't get the headgasket off for the life of us, nothing we tried worked. Then I had the great idea since the motor was out of the car "Why don't we lift the motor." "How will that work?" my friend asks, "Simple," I reply, "We'll mount the chains to the head itself."

So up it goes and first I just remove all slack in the chains...nothing. Move it up so the oil pan has cleared the ground by an inch or so....nothing. Take it up to about six inches, nothing. While it is the air we're pushing as hard as we can down on opposing sides, one of us on the drivers side engine mount and one of us on the transmission. Guess what, nothing. So my genious Nissan lover of a friend gets on the transmission (Mind you it is still suspended) and holding onto the head for balance starts jumping on it. Nothing yet though; then the fateful line - "Respect...my...NISSAN...AUTHORITY!!!" Wabaam! Head free of block

~Disclaimer~ Children, do not try this at home. This was done by professional fools who did have the time to replace anything that could have been destroyed in the 6 inch fall. Have a nice day </TD></TR></TABLE>

Was your head/block rusted up or something?

I have a feeling mine is stuck about this bad. I tried getting under with a 4ft pole with no luck (couldnt really find a great point to hit, not sure what someone meant by cam side. On my zc there is no space over there). Guess ill try to find a big rubber mallet.

 

You let it over heat to many times, now there fuse together . Try a rubber mallet. What ever you do, don't use a torch

 

Turn the engine on, it'll come of.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chet90si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Turn the engine on, it'll come of. </TD></TR></TABLE>


your just going to have to use some sort of pry bar... there has to be some area on the block to get that sucker in there. I haven't had this problem yet...so i can't offer much, but the malet and wedge sound like a good idea too.

good luck

 

One method that has always worked for me;

After everything is unbolted and all the head bolts are removed,
Take a pry-bar with a tapered end:

and stick it into one of the holes for the head bolts:

Then rock the head side to side to break the adhesion of the gasket..

 

use a sawzaw

 

i see you have a zc, but on the sohc engines there is a space where you can get in and pry in the right corner by the cam gear where the gasket doesn't come all the way out. word of warning, may warp the head.

 

look at the last line of my sig

 

I wouldnt use any thing sharp or metal to pry between the head and the block, it might scrape it up. Try using an engine hoise. Ide atach it to the head, Crank it up so theres pressure on the chains and let it pull on it over night. know how a star fish can crack open a clam? It can pull on it for hours while the clam uses all its force to stay closed. clam eventualy gives up.


ORRRRR something to keep the engine from lifting up and use the engine hoist and crank it up. itle pop.

 

yeah i wasn't meaning where a scrape would matter, i was meaning a place that seems it was meant for that, because both jut out and the gasket doesn't.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bagpipe goatee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i see you have a zc, but on the sohc engines there is a space where you can get in and pry in the right corner by the cam gear where the gasket doesn't come all the way out. word of warning, may warp the head.</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is what I do, it's not part of the surface that needs to seal, so I take a prybar or big screwdriver to it.

 

Put a bottleneck jack between the rear crossmember and the manifold, then jack that sucker up. Use a peice of wood on the manifold side so you dont f anything up.

 

press up on cam gear/upper rad hose tube. Just need to get that thing loose from the two metal dowels. Make sure to pull straight up.

 

an easy way to do this is to remove the valvetrain, and LOOSEN the head bolts. then get in the car and crank it. the compression pressure from the motor will break it apart every time. guaranteed

 

that has to be one of the funniest things i have ever heard!!!!