"cylinder head removal kit"

[Ruairidh Dunford]

If it's really stuck I use two pry bars, one at each end...

[Dave Mann]

thanks Dave - is the bottom bit hardwood just for thread protection?

No JonE it's a 1/2" steel plate.

[JonE]

worth mentioning, if you are making up the puller things from sparkplugs.... if you are using modern plugs then getting the ceramic out is a pain, but seems to be best via masonry drill/ cracking them out from the cylinder head chamber end first! I sheared the tops off first with anglegrinder but they are very persistent.

I've also made a step in the side with an angle grinder, as you can't do the "Ruairidh lever trick" with modern 18mm plugs as there isn't anything to wedge the lever under.

[JonE]

OK. This one is off too, but it was a real pig and there was sealant around some of the studs  holding it back.
I presume I can put some copper grease on studs when new head goes on?
My kit follows. Thanks to those suggestors.
The pry arrangement a la Ruairidh was good for final stages. I've adapted one plug you can see, but having both done would have been good.
The thread gets a bit mashed from moving the steel crossbar up and down, so it wants drilling so there is a bit of slack. 
There is also no 'key' to stop the captive bolts moving round, other than the friction from the nut on top of the sparkplug base. Not sure whether to put a little split pin through, or whether that would just shear.

Had to pull in various places abuot 5 times in all before I could get another flat bar through and heave upwards. Not made easy by the brass plugs getting in the way of pulling from all the studs equally.


Anyway, its done.

Odd head gasket. Just a single thickness of what seemed like cardboard but a bit tougher. Grey. Any thoughts on that? All assembled by a mid 80's engineer who had many restorations behind him but was plainly using what was in the garage, as you can see from the valve cover knurled wheel alternatives....

[Chris KC]

Single layer grey composite gaskets were all we could get at one time as I recall.

I love those tappet cover knobs!!

[James Anderson]

Having recently helped Jon E in a very minor way get his nice Ricardo head on, I'm unfortunately faced with the same problem he started off with, how to remove an HC cylinder head that's been on my Ruby Saloon for several centuries. Have done all the respectable things like soaked all the studs with Plus Gas and applied the supposedly super duper T-Bar extractors in the plug holes and heaved but no movement. I appreciate that I haven't got the hook type devices but I was thinking of strapping something round the T-Bars and hanging them from an engine hoist but I've had enough for today!

Just wondered, as we all want to transmit this interest to the younger members of society, if there is some insanity defying product that is 100% guaranteed to remove heads with relative ease....as this age-old or is it old age problem doesn't seem to go away?! I looked at R's video clip and that head looked as though it had given up the will to stay on a long time before R used his pry-bar or whatever its called. In the Bad Old Days (BODs), age 17-20, I remember being stuck in the middle of nowhere and having to resort to a hammer and chisel, then tyre lever but I'm now grown up, more sensible, head gaskets are much more expensive and value my surfaces more! Would appreciate any help.

["Slack Alice" Simon]

Patience and persistence.

It took me a couple of hours once just to get a millimetre of movement, but once you get that movement, you know it will come off.

Eventually.

Penetrant down the stud holes - half and half diesel and acetone for preference.

Tapping alternately on the levers under the spark plug thingies you have made, and then tapping side to side with a mallet.

Penetrant.

Repeat.

Two hours later you get a little movement.

Simon

[JonE]

what about the force of starting up/running with the head stud nuts unscrewed, if its been running up til now?

[jansens]

I can confirm what JonE said, it's actually quite hard to get the ceramic out of a modern plug. I did it recently to make lifting eyes to lift the engine in and out and it took some time to actually remove it. If you're chipping away at it it is definitely one of those times where eye protection is required!

Another method I have heard of but never tried or seen is attaching some kind of air hose fitting to an old spark plug then using an air line from a compressor to pop it off. As when using the engine compression to do it you loosen the head stud nuts but leave them on so the head doesn't go flying.

Simon

[James Anderson]

I did try the start-up but sadly it was after I had tried the Plus Gas and it just bubbled everywhere. As far as patience goes, I can do that with this venture but if you need to get it off in a hurry it would be useful to have a tool to hand, although apart from the jemmy, none of them look that portable. In defence of my behaviour as a young lad, it was a LC thicker gasket and I could see where it had blown and the car was none the worse.