I followed the thread that was here on headgaskets and pinholing a while ago, but its gone now.
It didnt really describe what had to be done.
Is it just a "take off whats in hte way" project?

 

Hi, This is what I did to change my head gaskets. First remove the hood then remove air cleaner wiring for glow plugs and ect. Alt, power steering pump vac. pump and AC needs to be removed and set asside. remove IP and lines as a unit. remove intake manifold and valve covers. Unbolt exh. manifolds form heads and on the right head you have to unbolt the dipstick tube. Remove rocker arms and pushrods and keep then inorder so they go back in the same place. The best way to do this is to drill holes in a block of wood to put the pushrods in and mark the wood as to where they go. Remove the head bolts and use a cheery picker to remove the heads. On the right side all the head bolt wont come out of the head due to heater box so youll have to remember where those are so you can put them in head before you put it back on the block. The best way to do this is to get some 3/8 fuel line and cut it about 2" long then split it to go around the bolts this will hold the bolts up so they dont hit the head gasket when you install head. Some tips for reassembly clean all bolts with wire wheel and run a tap in all the holes and blow them out with air to clean them out. Put a drop or two of oil on the head bolts this will reduce friction and give you a more accurate torque reading. Torque the head bolts an extra 10 ftlbs than the the torque spec. Follow torque sec. Hope this helps out and good luck its not that bad of a job. john

 

Sounds like hell. So its that heavy to where I have to use a cherry-picker? Guess a tractor will have to do...
How much do the heads weigh?
How long does it take? I have very little time on my hands due to homework...

 

About 100 lbs give or take. If you have all the gaskets on hand you should have it apart and back together and running in a weekend by yourself. Add friends and beer it could be longer.

 

Im 16, so my friends and I sitting around my truck with beer is out. Not only that, but my two friends who actually know about this stuff are not the prime people for the job.
Both are rough on things, really rough. The one who knows the most of the two has had his 91 bronco for a year and hes already had to do an engine swap(302 to a 351W because he hydrolocked it), rebuild the tranny and rebuild the transfer case. He only installed the engine though. He knows stuff about gasolines anyways (tried to get him to put a 24v I6 Cummins in instead of his 351W).
Just for laughs, and to show how deep he was, when we fished his truck out he had about 4 crawdads on his front-end replacement, and another two in the air cleaner box.
With the way I work on things, I give it two weekends. Also, I run cross country and have an away meet, so this Sat. is out. I attend church on Sundays, then soccer at 12:30 and D-Teams (small group Bible study at 6:15) that evening. Sundays are almost always out, but it looks like no soccer or D-teams if I want to drive anytime soon.

 

Well with no beer the job will be cheaper to do and youll have less problems. Tell your friend there are less expensive ways to fish for crawdads!!!! Just take your time and do it right the first time. Make sure you get your gaskets I had to order mine no one around here stocked them. The part numbers for felpro gaskets are as follows Int. gasket MS96038 and the head set HS8891PT these are the one I bought and they had everything I needed.

 

I already got the Felpro at Autozone, along with the gaskets for the rocker arm covers.
Looking at the head-gaskets, 7.3's have freakin huge cylinders!

 

I am in the process of doing my heads.
Here is list of things you will need:

Water pump
Ford thermostat(Use FORD or IH only)
Intake gasket set (Fel-pro)
Head gasket kit (Fel-pro)
New injector returnline and "tees" kit

I had to have my heads worked on because they found a crack. It was repaired, but I have 425.00 in the heads right now. They were worped some too. The crack was only found with magnafluxing. Suggest having that done.

I ordered ARP head studs also. you can re-use the old ones, but mine were quite rusty and I don't trust them.

Hope this helps. To be safe, use a cherry picker. you don't want to knick the head or trash the gaskets on re-install. I am waiting for some help, even with a picker, it takes two people to possition it w/o messing stuff up.

 

Anybody ever replaced the heads in a E350?

 

It would be the same but you might have to pull the engine or take off part of the body because of how short their hoods are.

Got a quote on how much head-gasket replacement would be, just for for kicks, at a Ford dealer. 2400.00+parts.

Why do I have to replace the thermostat, water pump, and the fuel return lines + "tees" kit(whats that)? Fuel return lines are in good condition.

I guess I'll have to make a cherry picker too, cuase I dont think the frontloader would turn out too well. What are you chaining on to?

Is it hard to get the turbo off?

 

why only use ford or ih thermostat

 

wow 2400. buck if you got that kind of money then add 3000.bucks and get a new motor. I would change the T stat while you have it apart because its not in the best of places as for the water pump I didnt change mine it is fairly easy to get to. the return lines should be changed because of the O-rings. Make sure the injectors and the tees are really clean before you assemble them or youll have leaks. If you want to change the water pump it about 30 bucks and you wont have to worry about it then for some time I didnt have the extra money to change mine at the time. ( My kids wanted to eat that week). The 16 O-rings for the return lines will come in the gasket set.

 

When you pull the heads you will disturb the fuel return lines enough that they will start leaking real soon, probably the first time you start it up.

Shop time to pull and reinstall the heads in the truck is 22 hours by the labor rate guide, from start to finish.

If you bought the new motor it takes 14 hours to change it out, so that is another 1200 dollars to do that.

 

I have a 86 ford f-250 I have water coming out of the exhaust pipe and water pushes out the over flow when driving do you think I have a headgasket blow if so is the info in the other thread how I change them what do you think it will cost me if I do it myself I called autozone earlier they had head gaskets for 175.00 just the headgaskets thats pretty high I think for just headgaskets a buddy of mine told me to try a k&w block seal he said it would seal a headgasket has anyone tryied the block seal if so did it work all help would greatly be appreciated thanks Barry I just bought the truck friday and already working on it the guy I bought it from said it had a turbo off a powerstroke on it does this truck come with a turbo from the factory on a 86 6.9 or has it been put on please help help help!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hi, This is what I did to change my head gaskets. First remove the hood then remove air cleaner wiring for glow plugs and ect. Alt, power steering pump vac. pump and AC needs to be removed and set asside. remove IP and lines as a unit. remove intake manifold and valve covers. Unbolt exh. manifolds form heads and on the right head you have to unbolt the dipstick tube. Remove rocker arms and pushrods and keep then inorder so they go back in the same place. The best way to do this is to drill holes in a block of wood to put the pushrods in and mark the wood as to where they go. Remove the head bolts and use a cheery picker to remove the heads. On the right side all the head bolt wont come out of the head due to heater box so youll have to remember where those are so you can put them in head before you put it back on the block. The best way to do this is to get some 3/8 fuel line and cut it about 2" long then split it to go around the bolts this will hold the bolts up so they dont hit the head gasket when you install head. Some tips for reassembly clean all bolts with wire wheel and run a tap in all the holes and blow them out with air to clean them out. Put a drop or two of oil on the head bolts this will reduce friction and give you a more accurate torque reading. Torque the head bolts an extra 10 ftlbs than the the torque spec. Follow torque sec. Hope this helps out and good luck its not that bad of a job. john

The part numbers for felpro gaskets are as follows Int. gasket MS96038 and the head set HS8891PT these are the one I bought and they had everything I needed.

I wouldnt use the block sealer it wont fix the head gasket.

Ask for those part numbers and you will get all the gaskets you need to do the job. I paid $69.90 for intake gasket and $149.95 for head gasket set.

The fuel return line kit is about $25.00 and I dont know the part # for it becuase I got mine when I bought the truck. But you will need it becuase my O-rings were very brittle when I took them off. This kit will come with 16 O-rings 8 plastic tees and 5 or 6 feet of fuel line, clamps and copper washers.

No the 86 6.9 did not come factory with a turbo