Hi guys,
I finally got around to re-installing the cylinder head on my 71 142E. It has been off the road for a month or so due to a broken-off bolt in the head. I tried easy-outs and reverse drill bits, but failed miserably.
In frustration, I finally removed the entire head and shipped it to a qualified machine shop for repair. They found that the bolt was so firmly inside the head that they were forced to machine it out on a milling machine and re-tap and insert a Heli-coil insert.
They shipped it back to me and I undertook the reinstall this Sunday. I performed it in about 4 hours.
I cleaned all of the faces of the cylinder head with my trusty Craftsman electric orbital sander and fine grit sandpaper to remove any traces of gasket material. I believe that the exhaust manifold had at least 3 layers of gaskets on the lower manifold connection! What a pain to remove!.(I used other words, but am polite on the brick board)

Anyway, I reinstalled the head and torqued it per the spec in my manuals after install to 65 ft-lbs.(after a 4-minute run to heat the engine)
After running the engine, I immediately changed the oil and found HEAVY deposits on the magnetic drain plug. I expected this, because the engine had not been taken apart since 1974(allegedly).

I ordered the gasket kit from IPD for the complete head gasket replacement for the E/F series engines. It was a little more expensive than the local el-cheapo guys, but I had piece of mind with IPD. Theirs was about $80 for the WHOLE set- and every damn gasket was the correct one. This is, in my opinion, hands down worth the money. The ‘experts’ at AutoZone, Pep-Boys, and Quik-E-Parts are a full 3 notches lower than IPD guys when it comes to vintage B20 parts.

Just my $0.02.

The 142 and I were blazing down the MassPike in OD this morning thinking how lucky we were……


Later,
Jeremy
--
71 142E and a yard full of 240's in Mass.