Since there has been a lot of discussion lately regarding removal of
recalcitrant cylinder heads, I thought I'd throw in my $0.02.
I recently yanked the engine from my parts car, and needed to remove
the head. After removing all of the stud nuts, the head was still
firmly attached to the block. The engine was frozen, so the much
touted rope trick was not an option.
What I ended up doing was tapping around the head with a rubber
mallet, and prying (gently) between the thermosat housing and the top
of the water pump to get the seam between the head and block to open a
bit. Once I got a foot-hold, I embarked on a 4 day-long process of
inserting (i.e., pounding) ever larger wooden wedges all around the
seam. The head was not really loose in any sense until I cleared the
last 1/2" at the top of the studs. Some things that I learned from
this that others might benefit from:
1) Use a tough, stringy wood for the wedges. Oak and ash worked
best. Maple was worthless.
B) A gentle smooth slope on the wedges is essential. Even so, the
wedges will break up as they are hammered in.
III) Initial progress is made in small increments. I got less than
1/2" of separation in the first three days.
d) The head gasket will get in the way.
By the time I was done, there was an impressive pile of wood chips on
the floor, but no metal was damaged.
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Dean Mericas, Ph.D. Senior Environmental Engineer
Limno-Tech, Inc. 501 Avis Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48108
dmericas@limno.com http://www.limno.com
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