Cylinder Head Removal, Does engine have to be taken out?? Options

[ldino21]

I am trying to figure out if the whole engine needs to be taken out to remove and replace the Cylinder heads on a 73 1.7.

The reason is that one of the studs for the exhaust have broken out and I need to remove the cylider heads to get this out!!

Second is it cheaper to just rebuild the heads once I have them out, or should I buy new ones, if I buy new ones what can I do to improve performance??

Lou

[Dave Bell]

Well.... if you can figure out some way to get the broken stud out while the engine is still in, you can put a replacement stud in from underneath the car... I have done that.

Short of that, things are a lot easier with the engine out. With three people helping, we dropped and engine, put on a spare used head and had it all back together and running in one evening. It willl likely take longer by yourself... and then you get into Dirk Wright's disease... and you want to do all sorts of other things while you have the engine out.... start counting weeks and months until the car is back on the road.

You can probably find someone to give you a spare 1.7L head... they don't command a big price. Given that you could be back on the road very quickly and if you want newer heads, you can again find one more cheap or free 1.7L head, have that one plues the one you took worked on and put them in later.

- Dave
- Dave