swaping heads
 

About how long and how hard is it to change the head if I bought a new one? and while I'm at it changing the water pump?

How can I tell if my car has the updated water pump or not?

If it has the guard between the water pump pulley and the idler, it should be the updated one.

Totally OT...

Keep your eyes open for a red 951, I might pass through Deerfield on the way up to Lake Geneva this weekend!

If its your first head........ a weekend outta do it.

The waterpump is really the only thing that may cause you grief.

It all depends on how corroded the bolts are.

oh god, the bolts... sweet lord did I cause myself problems there.

Do a search for my water pump ordeal and hopefully you'll be able to learn from my stupidity!

Swapping a head is fairly straightforward, but be aware that the bolts holding the cam tower can get tricky. The ones you see along the exhaust manifold are only half the story. The rest are under the hex-head caps on the cam cover. See Haynes. Also, try to loosen them each a little at a time, otherwise the pressure put on them by the cam/lifters can put a firm grip on whichever bolt comes out last. Then the bolt pops loose and disappears into the cam box. Also make sure to tilt the cam box in such as way as to keep the lifters in place. They gotta go back where they came from. That said, it's a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Water pump bolts - for heaven's sake, don't overtorque them! That's about it, except for the whole timing belt trip. But by now you're probably aware of that.

What I wanna know is, can a good head gasket be reinstalled? I'd think not.

Since you've got the head off, you've got a good opportunity to r&r vacuum lines, aux air valve and anything else hiding under the intake.

No, a head gasket can't be reused. They're a one-use-only item. When you tighten it the first time, you crush it a specific amount through the torquing sequence. it crushes to fill-in and seal the microscopic differences in the 2 surfaces. the second time, you'll never get all the parts EXACTLY in the same spot. In addition, you would need a different torquing procedure, which doesn't exist. if you torque with the regular procedure, you'll overstress the head studs, or pull out threads.