Tillerman77
Member
Did you say if you were planning on degreeing your cams while the engine is out?
Enjoying this thread and your work in progress pictures as you go along.
Enjoying this thread and your work in progress pictures as you go along.
97 Cobra Blown Head Gasket Help/Tips
- Thread starter YUNG VEEZU
- Start date
MorbidSvtCobra
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Glad your alive and well into the process again,happy belated xmas and happy new years. I havent taken my car to the shop yet but its been running great,just getting annoyed more by my throw out bearing that got a lil louder and that annoying exhaust leak. The more my shop is making me wait to do this project the more parts i will order to put on so im good$$$
,lol.
,lol.
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YUNG VEEZU
Active Member
Alright, so I reinstalled the heads, but I had a question about the tightening steps. Heres the pages from the Haynes manual:
I stopped at Step 3, because it says to "loosen 2-3 turns" ( I have the 97) I may be overthinking but how loose is 1 turn?
Look at those fresh heads!
Next I plan on doing more cleaning around the block and replacing the oil pan gasket. Depending on time I may paint the block, but we'll see
I stopped at Step 3, because it says to "loosen 2-3 turns" ( I have the 97) I may be overthinking but how loose is 1 turn?
Look at those fresh heads!
Next I plan on doing more cleaning around the block and replacing the oil pan gasket. Depending on time I may paint the block, but we'll see
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YUNG VEEZU
Active Member
Another update, I loosened 1 whole turn (as in a full circle). Was that too much?
Naw, youre good. Torqueing the heads in is about pre-seating before that final tightening. Torque, torque, loosen, torque torque, final turn. A little note on that final turn. Each bolt should fight back a little bit. All the way to that last bit of effort untill you meet the proper amount. If the bolt gives while tightening that last turn, here is how it will feel. It will become easy. The bolt should take muscle all the way to its stopping point, progressively becoming tighter and tighter and tighter,....never feeling easy the entire sweep.
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YUNG VEEZU
Active Member
I'm still alive! It finally stopped raining and I got more work done.
I torqued all 20 of the cylinder head bolts to spec, and lightly ran some fresh oil around the camshafts.
Putting back the cam chain, chain guides and tensioner. I used a vice grip to compress the tensioner and used a paper clip to hold it in place.
Put a new timing cover gasket on, and did a quick wipe down of some gunk:
Labeling everything helped out a lot, even if it is messy. These are the 15 different timing cover bolts along with the front 4 oil pan bolts:
Before putting the cover on, I had a quick 20 minutes to spare and decided to replace the oil pan gasket and do a quick paint job:
Old and 20 years rusted:
After sanding and a light coat of primer:
A few coats of blue:
Timing cover and oil pan on with new gaskets:
next step is to put the front accessories on
I torqued all 20 of the cylinder head bolts to spec, and lightly ran some fresh oil around the camshafts.
Putting back the cam chain, chain guides and tensioner. I used a vice grip to compress the tensioner and used a paper clip to hold it in place.
Put a new timing cover gasket on, and did a quick wipe down of some gunk:
Labeling everything helped out a lot, even if it is messy. These are the 15 different timing cover bolts along with the front 4 oil pan bolts:
Before putting the cover on, I had a quick 20 minutes to spare and decided to replace the oil pan gasket and do a quick paint job:
Old and 20 years rusted:
After sanding and a light coat of primer:
A few coats of blue:
Timing cover and oil pan on with new gaskets:
next step is to put the front accessories on
MorbidSvtCobra
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Nice to see your alive. I left my Cobra in the shop today to do all my mods and repairs all at once,i wonder who will be driving their car first?lol My shop is fast but i have to wait for the machine shop now for the head work and valve job. I bought some decent valve covers in great shape for cheap cause mines were toast. Now im looking for someone to polish my intake cover and just paint it myself or powder coat it. Well good luck on finishing bro,your doing good.
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YUNG VEEZU
Active Member
haha good news! Most likely you will, because tomorrow its going to rain for the next week so I'm going to have to cover the motor up again
Your chain tensioners are on the correct side, right? Driver side is Left passanger side is Right.
Also, you got the crank trigger wheel on there right?
Also, you got the crank trigger wheel on there right?
Tillerman77
Member
Does it usually rain that much in CO during the winter?
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YUNG VEEZU
Active Member
yes, they are on the correct side, and yes the crank wheel is on, I just didnt take pictures. When I first removed it I labeled it "Front" and just realized that on the back they stamped "Rear". But better safe than sorry!
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YUNG VEEZU
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I'm actually back home in San Francisco, CA. I changed my location on my profile a while back but it always seems to say I'm still at Carson
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YUNG VEEZU
Active Member
Today I installed the crankshaft/vibration/harmonic balancer (so many different names in the manual), with the installer tool from the local auto parts store.
I installed the belt tensioner, pulley right above that, water pump pulley, and the driver's side accessory bracket.
I also put on new header gaskets and installed the headers. After that I installed the motor mounts.
New valve cover gaskets and spark plug tube seal:
New heater tube with a new clamp:
Close up:
Didn't take pictures but I also installed the starter. I only installed the middle and bottom bolt. I remember working on my 98 GT before and it took me hours to get to the top bolt. I believe 2 bolts will hold that bad boy in there. I also did a little bit more cleaning, but due to time it isn't going 100% shiny and I couldn't paint the whole block blue. Maybe next time.
Ready to go:
(I lowered the car just a bit, and got the transmission jack in position under the car. I cleaned the remaining oil gunk around the K member and steering rack.)
This picture doesn't do the justice! I was about .10 of an inch close to the front end but I was able to clear it:
Further in:
(During this step I moved all of the electrical harnesses away, and took my time. I'd say it took a good 30-45 minutes of adjusting. I lowered and slowly pushed the motor towards the car slowly. I made sure the AC Compressor, AC lines and power steering pump weren't in the way. I hooked the clutch cable back up as well. I finally used my 2nd jack to help support the transmission, and slide everything smoothly while finally lowering the motor mounts in place.)
She's in!:
Off the top of my head I need to:
-Install transmission to crossmember
-Midpipe to Headers
-Driveshaft
-AC
-Power Steering
-A million electrical connectors and vacuum lines
It's going to rain tomorrow until next week, so I packed it up for now. We're almost there!
I installed the belt tensioner, pulley right above that, water pump pulley, and the driver's side accessory bracket.
I also put on new header gaskets and installed the headers. After that I installed the motor mounts.
New valve cover gaskets and spark plug tube seal:
New heater tube with a new clamp:
Close up:
Didn't take pictures but I also installed the starter. I only installed the middle and bottom bolt. I remember working on my 98 GT before and it took me hours to get to the top bolt. I believe 2 bolts will hold that bad boy in there. I also did a little bit more cleaning, but due to time it isn't going 100% shiny and I couldn't paint the whole block blue. Maybe next time.
Ready to go:
(I lowered the car just a bit, and got the transmission jack in position under the car. I cleaned the remaining oil gunk around the K member and steering rack.)
This picture doesn't do the justice! I was about .10 of an inch close to the front end but I was able to clear it:
Further in:
(During this step I moved all of the electrical harnesses away, and took my time. I'd say it took a good 30-45 minutes of adjusting. I lowered and slowly pushed the motor towards the car slowly. I made sure the AC Compressor, AC lines and power steering pump weren't in the way. I hooked the clutch cable back up as well. I finally used my 2nd jack to help support the transmission, and slide everything smoothly while finally lowering the motor mounts in place.)
She's in!:
Off the top of my head I need to:
-Install transmission to crossmember
-Midpipe to Headers
-Driveshaft
-AC
-Power Steering
-A million electrical connectors and vacuum lines
It's going to rain tomorrow until next week, so I packed it up for now. We're almost there!
Dood thats some good work! You performed exactly how we would have done it!
Nice job
Nice job
MorbidSvtCobra
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My updates are as followshToday I installed the crankshaft/vibration/harmonic balancer (so many different names in the manual), with the installer tool from the local auto parts store.
I installed the belt tensioner, pulley right above that, water pump pulley, and the driver's side accessory bracket.
I also put on new header gaskets and installed the headers. After that I installed the motor mounts.
New valve cover gaskets and spark plug tube seal:
New heater tube with a new clamp:
Close up:
Didn't take pictures but I also installed the starter. I only installed the middle and bottom bolt. I remember working on my 98 GT before and it took me hours to get to the top bolt. I believe 2 bolts will hold that bad boy in there. I also did a little bit more cleaning, but due to time it isn't going 100% shiny and I couldn't paint the whole block blue. Maybe next time.
Ready to go:
(I lowered the car just a bit, and got the transmission jack in position under the car. I cleaned the remaining oil gunk around the K member and steering rack.)
This picture doesn't do the justice! I was about .10 of an inch close to the front end but I was able to clear it:
Further in:
(During this step I moved all of the electrical harnesses away, and took my time. I'd say it took a good 30-45 minutes of adjusting. I lowered and slowly pushed the motor towards the car slowly. I made sure the AC Compressor, AC lines and power steering pump weren't in the way. I hooked the clutch cable back up as well. I finally used my 2nd jack to help support the transmission, and slide everything smoothly while finally lowering the motor mounts in place.)
She's in!:
Off the top of my head I need to:
-Install transmission to crossmember
-Midpipe to Headers
-Driveshaft
-AC
-Power Steering
-A million electrical connectors and vacuum lines
It's going to rain tomorrow until next week, so I packed it up for now. We're almost there!
Nice,finally in. Its almost 2 weeks later,any updates? Still raining? Btw i got my heads finally done,the valve guides were destroyed and they were warped,now i know how the blown headgasket happened but they look brand new now,i rebuilt my t-45 wasnt too bad just needed new synchros and bearings. I painted my upper intake,brake calipers,crossover tubemcleaned and brushed my throttle body and got some nice 98 cobra valve covers(mines were superbad). They should be putting her together shortly then a tune with my new longtubes
What was your youtube channel again? and ig?
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YUNG VEEZU
Active Member
nothing yet, it's been raining on and off and I haven't had enough time. Your progress sounds real good! My YouTube is ROYCE 415 but I'm not as active on it, my ig is royce_415
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YUNG VEEZU
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nothing new, of all days it just happened to rain AGAIN on my day off. Will update soon
MorbidSvtCobra
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Dam stupid rain right,lol. My cobra should be done this week,last week they just started putting the heads on last but they packed for bradenton for the NMRA weekend,i wonder if the shop will be open tomorrow,im getting very anxious
MorbidSvtCobra
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Any updates???.... Bueller....Bueller...Bueller? lol
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YUNG VEEZU
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haha nothing yet..I don't get it, California has been in a drought the past few years and the one time where I work on my car, we've had the most rain in the past 10 years.
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