Head advice

Hi,
I'm about to remove the head on my B, to remove the sharp bit, where the two curves meet, to try to stop dieseling, and to also check if there is anything in there that might be causing my vibration, before pulling the lump.
I'm looking for advice on how to do it to stop swarf getting into galleries etc, how much to take off and how best to do it.

Thanks

Herb

Herb,

Mostly just drain as much coolant as you can, and remove the manifolds. If you're going to try to leave the exhaust manifold in place, you'll find more clearance to lift the head off if you use the double nut method to remove the manifold studs if they don't come out courtesy of rusted nuts. Otherwise, just plug wires, upper radiator hose, and the wire to the temperature gauge sending unit. If the manifold fasteners don't fight you, you should be able to have the head off in under an hour.

After you lift off the rocker arm assembly, be sure to jiggle each push rod before lifting it out, in order to break the oil film that may hold it to the tappet. Otherwise you risk pulling the tappet out of its bore. Of course if your engine still has the tall lifters, they're heavy enough that this problem is unlikely...

Dick

Thanks for replying Dick. I was actually wanting to know about removing (grinding, filing, ?) the pointy bit off in the combustion chamber, not on how to remove the head.

Herb

My bad, Herb. Sorry. With the valves closed, filings will not get past them, so only necessary to mask off the ports and other openings, and use your, or an old, valve cover to protect the top end. Of course you'll still want to do a good cleaning afterward...

Dick