Unfortunately those nuts tend to rust on. Plenty of oil and a tight 6 point socket. If you don't round off the edges on the nut then you just have to keep applying pressure until you either get the nut loose or the stud comes out or the nut breaks off. You have to loosen the bolt that holds the down pipe to the bracket on the bell housing like suppra_girl said. You may have to loosen the nuts on the manifold to get it to move out and get you more room to those three nuts.

If all else fails you can unbolt the cat converter from the front end and take the manifold bolts off and pull that part of the exhuast out of the car. The will give the the option of using a torch on the nuts and get them off that way.

Good luck and keep us informed.
Russ

Do I have to remove the exhaust manifold off of the head to remove the head? or can I leave on there, pull the head and then remove it?

Also any tips on how to get the oil line nuts off? the ones under the turbo with the huge tube....


Thanks all for your help

use a ratchet and socket and remove the 2 10mm nuts off the oil drain on the block... you should have access with the tools from the engine bay top side

so basically have the ratchet horizontal to the oil drain nuts and you should be able to remove it

I guess you could ask for her to come and help...lol.


Russ

Sounds like a good idea, :D


I finally got the head off and I could tell that it was a gasket failure. I also could tell that the Number 6 cylinder has never fired in the whole engines life, if it has then not enough to show up. I think who ever built this engine was an idiot and did not know what they were doing. Everthing looks good but do you guys think I should hone the cylinders and put new rings in it? All there is, is flash rust on the cylinders and it wipes right off, there also is no ring grooves on the cylinders so i dont think this engine has ran much at all, but there is carbon build up on the top of the pistons and the head.

Yeah, I would try just honing the cylinders then, but it wouldn't hurt to have someone measure the bores just in case. I had an engine that I though looked very good, but was worn and needed to be bored out. If you take the head off at least go that far and if you do put pistons then look at the bearings too and replace them if necessary.

As far as that one cylinder never looking like it was firing, sometimes when there is a coolant leak in the cylinder it cleans the top of the piston and makes it look like it never fired.



Just my 2 cents



Russ

I dont have to remove the pistons to hone it do I?

Also should I rebuild the head while I have it off?

Well, if you wanted to do the best job with the honing then you would need to remove the pistons, but I have honed a few fairly fresh engines with the pistons still in and it worked out ok. That would also show if the bores are pretty round unless you use a bead type honing tool. Clean out the residue as best as you can after honing. That stuff shouldn't hurt the engine. Change the oil after running it a little bit, let it get warm. Have a machine shop take out some valves and see how the seats look. You might as well get a valve job done. Setting the valve lash is time consuming, but very necessary. You will need an extra set of shims to play with to get the clearances just right. New valve stem seals are a must and it would hurt to get a new set of valve springs. The springs aren't that strong but do weaken after time.

Good luck.

Russ

I will be doing all the work myself and I dont have much money but I do have all the tools as ive built a few engines before. Ive got 2 sitting right now 1969 302 small block and a 1970 402 big block, that I just finished but didn't do the machine work .