MG MGB and MGB GT Tech Talk
Four hours of trying to pry it off. Of course the spare motor's head popped right off. Hayes says take a rubber mallett and tap below the thermostat housing. A sledge hammer would be more like it. Does anyone have any ideas? very frustrated. B
remove the head studs and whack it sideways. forget the gentle mallet shit. piece of 2x4 and a 4# HAMMEr. If you have 8#, so much the better.
WD40, and a rubber mallet. I know how it is man, trust me. When I did the rotors on my Grand Vitara, they were frozen on the axles. I hit those things so hard with the rubber mallet I could smell burning rubber. It takes some time :)
Thanks Fellas. Mac, the front studs are suspect, especially one rusty little bastard. How can I get those off? not enough thread showing to do the double nut thing.
I'm not there. can't tell you. But sounds like the studs are too far in. there should be 2 nuts worth. maybe not the long hard nuts, but two std height 3/8-24 nuts, If you can get the top nut 2/3-or more on you should be a go.
try a BFH at the back. all it needs is 1/8 inch movement. and lotsa grunt to lift it. Use a piece of 2x4 to prevent cracking the head. NEVer HIT A CASTING WITH A bfh directly.(but you knew that, right?<G>
You could also thread a piece of rope into one cylinder through the spark plug hole and then turn the engine over with a wrench. Might take a big cheater bar but I bet you could get the head to lift.
with spark plugs in crank the engine a couple of turns. compression will break the seal.
EDIT: use the starter.
Barry I had a hell of a time getting mine off the first time too. After trying wood wedges,
pry bars etc., I picked up a couple of stud removal tools from Harbor Freight. I soaked everything with Kroil first and then removed
all the studs. There was only a couple that were really stuck (rust) so it was easy after I got them out. The tools were
pretty cheap if I recall. It helps to have an 1 1/8 socket and a big breaker bar. Good luck!
If the stud is rusted to the head, you are in for a bit of work. First, soak the stud with Kroil. or another good penetrating oil, not WD-40. If this doesn't work, apply heat to the area around the stud to expand the metal and release the rusted stud from the head. Repeat several times until you can finally get the head to budge. Now the rope trick can be used to lift the head off the offending stud. RAY
I recently had one stud rusted in so badly I had to take everthing off the block then unscrew the entire head and stud as an assembly. I then had my machine shop remove the stud from the head.
The rope trick has never failed me. I'd try to take as many of the studs out as I could before hand and plan on replacing the all with new. Straight diesel fuel is a good penetratant, too
if using the 'ol rope trick, its a good idea to leave another stud in as a guide so that the head lifts straight up
I had a similar problem a while back, like Rich said get a stud puller from Harbor Freight, and soak it good with Kroil, PB Blaster, or straight diesel overnight. Once you get the stud(s) out the rope trick is a real timesaver. Be careful where you rap on the head even with a rubber mallet, I broke the flange where the valve cover seals on mine... That really is a drag! The head was cracked anyway, but I can't describe that sinking feeling.
