Partial/Full re-seal questions?

[SmashedGlass]

Just some general advise sought...

 

Like many older subes I've looked under, mine is a weeping mess underneath. Haven't gotten the engine cleaned off enough to tell exactly what all is leaky, but I'll assume just about everything (aside from the HG) to include the oil filter mount gasket. So the questions are:

 

1)How hard is it to do all of the seals and approx. how long of a job with the engine still in the car (incl. oil pan, exhaust obviously dropped)?

2)How hard is it and how long would it take to remove the engine to do an out-of-car re-seal?

 

Time is a constraint for me as I do not have a garage at my place and have to rely on other friends with single-car garages, which means I can't have a disassembled car in a garage for more than a week at the outside, and also have to work around my and their work schedules.

[Red92]

I too would be interested to know this.

[cal_look_zero]

Having just recently done this in addition to my HGs, I can tell you a few things.

 

First off, I would do the HGs while you're in that far. It's 18 more bolts and I personally wouldn't want to get in there again unless I really need to. You have to pull the cam carriers out and re do the timing anyways; so replace the belts and pulleys if needed.

 

I was able to knock it out in 2 days; not counting time that the heads were in the machine shop.

 

My kit came with gaskets for the: heads, valve covers, camshafts, intake, exhaust, oil filler, water pump, thermostat, oil pan, valve cover bolts, front and rear mains, and a bunch of other gaskets that I didn't find a place for.

[idosubaru]

if you're limited don't waste your time. clean the engine and find the leaks. if you have a simple leak that takes $10 in seals and an hour and a half to fix, it's kind of silly to think about a complete overhaul.

 

to pull the engine or not is personal preference, there's a hundred angles to that question. most folks seems to prefer pulling the engine. i hate pulling engines and EA/ER stuff is really easy to do in the car, not a big deal at all if you don't mind a few cramped quarters.

 

if you have a weak back, do not attempt it in the car, you will be leaning over the fenders a lot. also if you're doing it in the car air tools or an electric impact that can access the cam and head bolts make it really quick - just zip them all out. doing all of those by hand in the car takes awhile...but i'm used to air tools.