Bill,
I know this is going to sound like I'm asking a dumb question but:
Are you absolutely certain that you have removed ALL of the head
bolts/studs? How many were there? I mean this seems like way too much (not
that I need to tell you that!) Unless the PO used superglue to seal the
gasket I can't imagine lifting the front of the car.
There, I've asked. Sorry, if I'm questioning you but sometimes with these
really weird problems the answer is obvious if we just step back. Not
always, though.
Hal
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-spridgets@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-spridgets@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of William M. Gilroy
Sent: Monday, November 23, 1998 8:43 PM
To: mgs@autox.team.net; spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: Stuck head, 77 Midget, the saga continues
Car: 77 Midget that refuse to come apart easily.
I finally got all of the studs out of my head. The last
three were removed with a Sears stud extractor. Worked
like a champ. Thanks for all of the advice from the
list.
So now I give the head a couple of tugs and it won't budge.
I beat it with a rubber mallet and still no go. So now
I crank the engine. Still no go. Several lister pointed
out that this would work better with the valve rockers in
place. This would allow the cylinders to get some air.
I decide to give cranking the engine another try. It
crank about 1/2 of a turn and stopped dead. I let go off
the key as fast as I could. This can't be good. As I
tried to figure out what had happened I hear a noise sort of
like soda being forced out of a leaky bottle. A light bulb
comes on and I look at the front of the engine where I removed
the water pump. There used to be water in the cylinder head
and now I could not see any. My guess is the water that was
still in the cylinder head leaked into the cylinder. Then
"boy genius" (that's me) cranked the engine. Of course we
all remember from high school that fluids don't compress.
My first question is did I do any damage, such as bend a rod?
How can I tell if I did break or bend something?
The second thing is that damn head is still stuck tight. I tried
to get it off by cranking the engine and that failed. My next
attempt was to put back in the two bolts that held the water pump.
I then put a 2x4 under both bolts and then used a floor jack to
try to lift the head off. The only thing that happened was the
front wheels came off the ground. While the car was suspended by
the cylinder head I tried applying some directed force with a
rubber mallet, but still no luck. Any ideas on what to try next?
I have not tried filling the cylinder with rope and turning the engine
by hand. Might give that a try tomorrow. A shaped charge might
do the trick :-)
This gives me a whole new respect for the rally teams that fix
their cars in the middle of nowhere with only pliers, a screw driver,
a couple of sticks, one hammer and sap from a local tree. Then
the limp that repair a couple of hundred miles to the nearest 1/2
horse town. Then they fix their problem with some parts from another
car, another manufacturer, a rusty file, and duct tape. Those guys
are amazing. And I fighting just to get the head off. Sorry for
being so long winded, but I am running out if ideas fast, not that
I had that many of my own to start with :-)
-----
Bill Gilroy
wmgilroy@lucent.com
77 Midget - Held together with a new type of super glue.
90/89 Shar Pei
No cats
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