Need expert advice: Head-less 1F

[pookahead]

OK. I'm absolutely clueless. But foolishly decided to tackle a problem with my '71 FJ40: Billowing white/blue smoke, misfire at idle/acceleration, brown gunk floating in the radiator, etc. After reading the boards I came to the conclusion that I have coolant leaking into the cylinder heads likely from a worn head gasket. Throwing caution to the wind I started unbolting things and now am at the point where the head is ready to come off. Here's where I need your help: what next? Should I get the head resurfaced? What else? Obviously I'm doing this myself in order to save some $$$ which is in short supply. But at the same turn I don't want to waste the effort I've made. Are there any must do things to help ensure that my engine remains happy for many more years to come? And, is anyone bored in the Austin, TX area interested in some in exchange for some much needed support? I'm sure I've dug myself into a hole that I won't be able to get out of, but so far the experience has been amazing. Any advise would be truly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Poser]

Have you drained the engine coolant yet?

 

[pookahead]

Have you drained the engine coolant yet?

Yes, I pulled the Engine Coolant Plug and nothing came out! I used a screwdriver to break thru the black grime that appears to have caked up and clogged the passageway. The head bolt are loose. The carb, intake/exhaust manifolds have been removed. The connecting hose from the radiator to the engine head has been removed. I *THINK* I'm ready to pull the HEAD?

 

[Unoman]

Did you do a compression test before you started this adventure? The compression numbers will tell you whether or not you should have the whole engine rebuilt. If the numbers are good, you could get by with having the head rebuilt and run a new OEM head gasket, but run the chance of the bottom end failing on you. At this point, I'd just pull the head, see what you can find out and go from there.

 

[Pighead]

The connecting hose from the radiator to the engine head has been removed. I *THINK* I'm ready to pull the HEAD?

You probably want to pull the thermostat housing off the head while it's still on the block...makes it easier to break off the bolts. Actually, you're going to need to remove all the nuts, bolts & washers before you take it to the machine shop. The ones that break, you can have the machine shop fix.

 

[pookahead]

So the head is off. I've been trying to clean things up the best as I can. And I'm dreading trying to put it all back together. My objective: get it running again. I figure if I can accomplish this, then I can chalk this up to a learning exercise and make the investment a second time to "do it right".

Here are two photos of the engine block and head:

Jason Loo's Photos | Facebook
Jason Loo's Photos | Facebook

I'm curious if I need to do anything special before trying to slap everything back together:

* Do the cylinders need to be in the same position as they were when I took the head off?

* Do I need to take any special care when putting the push rods back in?

* I didn't mark the location of the spark plug wires - is there a cheat sheet that I can reference?

* ... what else?

Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[FJforty]

Wow! The head looks good. I don't see any carbon buildup.
Searching the site for what you are planning to do next is the best thing to do. The folks that read this post are not sure what to list off to help you. Like did you keep the pushrods in order, did you use the correct sequence to remove the rocker arms and head bolts, do you have and know how to use a torque wrench?
To answer a couple questions. Cylinders can be anywhere. No special care on replacing the pushrods. Try searching for ignition timing and spark plug wires. To search, click on search, go to advanced search, put in a couple words and select 40 & 50 series tech. then submit.
Good luck... Just keep going. You got lemons, make Lemonade.

 

[Pighead]

1) The cylinders should all be in the exact same position as when you removed the head. The pistons, however, can be moved around all you want.

B) Put them back in the same hole they came out of.

III) Yes. It's on the top of the distributor cap.

I'm curious if I need to do anything special before trying to slap everything back together:

* Do the cylinders need to be in the same position as they were when I took the head off?

* Do I need to take any special care when putting the push rods back in?

* I didn't mark the location of the spark plug wires - is there a cheat sheet that I can reference?

* ... what else?

Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[rsbcruiser]

Take the head to a machine shop and have it checked out before putting it all back together. You'd be surprised at how cheap it is.

 

[FJforty]

Cylinders can be anywhere.

Oh Man. Pighead got me on that one.

 

[pookahead]

Thanks for the useful info, and comic relief. My use of incorrect terminology illustrates just how inexperienced I am...

The cylinder walls, pistons, valves, etc look somewhat clean because I busted my knuckles trying to clean everything with WD40 and a wire brush. Hopefully a worthwhile effort. The #3 cylinder had more build up than the rest.

I discovered that the #4 cylinder wall has two 1/4" wide 1/8" deep gouges that run from the bottom of the piston head (if it were at the top) down. The rest have some surface scratches and pitting. I'm guessing that this type of damage requires a full engine rebuild? And based upon the feedback, it would be more worthwhile to replace the engine than rebuild it?

I failed to mark the original location of the push rods and rocker arm bolts. What is the consequence of not having done this?

When I was pulling the push rods, some were stuck and could only be removed by moving the pistons. The stuck ones looked like they were in at an angle - I expected that they'd be straight up and down. And one had some gouging, similar to the cylinder wall. When I put them back in, do I just place them in the hole? Do I need to seat them in any special way?

At this point I've got the head back on the block with a new head gasket and the head bolts torqued to spec. The in/outtake manifolds are on with a new gasket. The push rods have been placed back in their slot. I'm going to attempt the rocker arms and carb today, but I doubt I can do this successfully.

Once everything is assembled again:

* I didn't drain the oil, so I was going to sprinkle some fresh stuff in before putting on the valve cover

* I am going to use water instead of coolant to fill the radiator, and then flush the system, assuming she fires up

My goal is to get the engine fired up again. I have no expectations of it running better than before. Hopefully this proves to be a great learning experience and confidence builder for the next project. I really appreciate everyone's contributions. Thank you!

 

[71-CRUISER]

we need pics of the gouges in the cylinder wall. Depending on how bad they are you MAY be able to run it but that depends on how bad they are.

Also dont put the head back on without having it rebuilt ~$150. The last F Head I had rebuilt had 5 burnt exhaust valves.