Head gasket howto/advice

[nullset]

Alright, I've decided to try it myself.

I have remanufactured cylinder heads on the way from Josh. I've got the intake manifold and valve covers removed. Before I remove the timing cover / pulley, do I need to get it to Cylinder 1 TDC? If yes, what's the easiest way to find it? If not, what do I need to do?

I can't see the woodruff key when looking at the crankshaft pulley. How do I make sure it's facing the right way?

Anything else I should know before attempting this job?

Thanks!

[dn010]

The manual states the keyway needs to be turned towards the left bank sprocket before the chain is installed, then you turn it 150 degrees for the right bank (C:07:10). You don't want to turn the crank while the heads are loose or off unless you have something holding the liners down - a head gasket job will turn into a nightmare with new cylinder liners seals if you're not careful. If you remove the crankshaft pulley nut+washer and look at at the end of the crankshaft, the notch in the pulley indicates where the keyway is.

[DMC-81]

Alright, I've decided to try it myself.

I have remanufactured cylinder heads on the way from Josh. I've got the intake manifold and valve covers removed. Before I remove the timing cover / pulley, do I need to get it to Cylinder 1 TDC? If yes, what's the easiest way to find it? If not, what do I need to do?

I can't see the woodruff key when looking at the crankshaft pulley. How do I make sure it's facing the right way?

Anything else I should know before attempting this job?

Thanks!

Good for you! I have not taken the heads off the Delorean, but from other engine experience, the main thing is to follow the instructions (especially torque specifications) and bag and tag everything you remove. Plus be very clean and organized like a surgical procedure. Taking lots of pictures really helps.

I'm in the middle of an engine rebuild on my daily driver, which has a 5.7 Hemi. So I know what you are going through. Here are the heads that I just removed, ready for refurbing...

image.jpg

For the woodruff key, you can see it when you remove the crankshaft pulley nut, like so...


Once you remove the nut, mark the position of the woodruff key on the pulley. Then reinstall the nut just tight enough to rotate the engine to get the key in the 12 o'clock position. Then you can carefully remove the pulley with a good jaw puller.

Good luck!

[nullset]

Update!

Valve covers removed
Oil drained. Milky oil indicates a blown head gasket for sure.
Crankshaft pulley removed.
IMG_5082.jpg

Is the woodruff key sufficiently upright, or do I need to rotate more before continuing?

EDIT: The image is rotated 90 degrees. Straight left is straight up and down.

[David T]

Update!

Valve covers removed
Oil drained. Milky oil indicates a blown head gasket for sure.
Crankshaft pulley removed.
IMG_5082.jpg

Is the woodruff key sufficiently upright, or do I need to rotate more before continuing?

EDIT: The image is rotated 90 degrees. Straight left is straight up and down.

If it is almost at 12:00 you should be fine. Use a magnet as you remove the pulley so the key doesn't get away from you. It should remain in the crankshaft, it is when you remove the key from the crankshaft that you drop it.

[DMC-81]

Hmm, can't tell by the picture, but I would rotate it a bit to get it to 12:00 ( assuming that the heads are not off yet). Once I removed the timing cover, I loosely stuffed a shop towel in the cavity below the crankshaft that leads to the oil pan as a fail safe in case I knocked the key loose ( ensuring that I removed the towel afterwards).

[vwdmc16]

Once you remove the timing cover, you can see if the passenger side head cam gear is lined up for TDC, you can always thread the crank nut back on to rotate the engine, (only one direction or the nut loosens)

Note if you are also removing the water pump (not required with a head job.) You can remove one of the Allen head plugs at the base of the valley near the timing cover. There you can stick a drill bit down that hole which will lock the crankshaft to the block. This is all noted in either the DMC or Volvo manual.

If you are not replacing the chains then I HIGHLY recommend marking the timing components with a paint pen, not a sharpie, to the position they are relative to each other at cyl #1 tdc.

There are not clear timing marks for orienting the cams or crankshaft to the block. So make some with a bright paint pen after cleaning a spot with brake clean/degreaser.

[vwdmc16]

Quick correction, looking through the DMC and volvo manuaI could not find the section about using a drill bit in the gallery plug hole to lock the crankshaft, but I know it is written down some piece of PRV rebuild literature somewhere.

[NckT]

Quick correction, looking through the DMC and volvo manuaI could not find the section about using a drill bit in the gallery plug hole to lock the crankshaft, but I know it is written down some piece of PRV rebuild literature somewhere.

The gallery plug is located in the valley area under the water pump. The wayer pump needs to be removed to access and remove the plug from the engine block.
Once the drill bit is fitted and the crankshaft locked in place, the timing marks on the bracket may not appear to be at zero. Correct this by loosening the timing marks bracket and reposition this so the notch on the crank pulley is at zero, but make sure the valves on cylinder 1 near the (coil cover) are loose indicating it is on the firing stroke (coupled with the rotor arm in the distributor pointing to cylinder 1 ht lead in tje cap) and that the second notch on the crank pulley is at the 7 to 8 o'clock position.

Good luck

[nullset]

I found this, which shows it pretty well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfQWUvmthFo