"cylinder head removal kit"

[Ray White]

I have found if you can break the seal you are halfway there. If the engine is a runner, drain the water, then loosen off the head nuts. Start the engine and run for a short while. Using the power of the engine like this sometimes gets it shifted.

Just my four penneth.

[Charles P]

I find that a couple of hooks attached to spark plugs work well.
For recalcitrant heads I attach a block and tackle to them and leave the car hanging overnight, 6" off the ground. Works a dream.

[steve davidson]

Hi all,
 
Photos below show what I made up.  Just a very simple bit of 50x25x2.5mm RHS rectangular with an eye bolt in the middle and two bolts at spacings that match the distance between spark plugs 1 and 4. 

No need to get too fancy with drilling out the holes for the bolts, a little bit of clearance makes it no real difference as we are not trying to lift up the Queen Mary.  The steel was scrap so the most expensive part was the bolts, they are grade 8 M18 and I think they cost around AUD$5 each. 

The tape on the tread was an indicator to ensure that I got the bolt all the way in to the head but no more (no point in driving it in to the top of the piston). 

What I like about this design is that firstly it gives you something to pull on to remove a head and if it's really tight then just attach it to a block and tackle and slowly apply some force with maybe some gentle tapping with a soft hammer to encourage things along.  If you lift the car off the ground then either;
a) you’ve forgotten to take a nut off one of the studs; or;
b) you have some serious issues and it’s time to walk away and have a cup of tea and a lay down. 

The second reason I like this design is that if you attach it with the head nuts in place it’s an excellent tool to lift the entire engine and gearbox out of the car.  The eye bolt connection allows you to rotate the engine around the east/west axis and with my deep sump that’s a big plus.

[Andy Bennett]

Jon
I made up an extractor as you describe.
Instructions I found suggested a bar to rest on head studs but I found this unstable and it slipped off.
I therefore made a wide plate which sat over 4 studs for stability. I made 2 of these into 2 and 4 (as the water branch got in the way of using on 1.
Then using the cored out spark plug into the head and a slimmed down coach bolt I wound the head up the studs.
I had to pull the head all the way up as I had really tight studs. The first time I did it I had to hang the car from rafters with just the spark plug elements and hooks on the coach bolts. This time was much less traumatic, I just wound it up.
will take picture later if that doesn't make sense
Andy B

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Here go some pictures. The plate is 17cm long, 10cm wide, 5mm thick. it was just a piece I had available.

[JonE]

Thanks all. I'll investigate Colin and Andy's designs further (it just seems a good idea because of the tuneable amounts of considerable force) Ironically, the point about the aluminium heads threads might be why it hasn't established better use? Pointless making something if it can't be used in all circs.

And yes, will do the start up thing first!

[Dave Mann]

Thanks all. I'll investigate Colin and Andy's designs further (it just seems a good idea because of the tuneable amounts of considerable force) Ironically, the point about the aluminium heads threads might be why it hasn't established better use? Pointless making something if it can't be used in all circs.

And yes, will do the start up thing first!

You mean like this, always worked for me

[JonE]

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

[Ruairidh Dunford]

[JonE]

yay - love it! Just when I've acquired two enormous struts of metal!!

Can't wait to try that.

[Colin Wilks]

Hi Jon

I can confirm you have to be neither bearded nor a wizard to lever the head off using a wrecking bar pivoted on a stud. That's exactly how I got mine off for the first time. The T handles brazed into old plugs that a friend had leant me wouldn't move it, but they were very handy for putting the head back on since the leverage they provided enabled me to jiggle it down over the studs without getting too far off horizontal.

Colin