Pulling the heads on a 324 Rocket

[54olds]

What is the proper procedure for pulling a head on a 324 Rocket engine?

[Rallye469]

What happened to just pulling the manifold?
What did you find???

[54olds]

Still gonna do that, but I want to inspect the heads as well.

[redoldsman]

The best thing to do is find yourself a service manual. If you can find an original one, get it because it has all the color codes for the wiring. You can usually find them on ebay. It will be worth every cent you pay for it.

[Oldsguy]

In general. Label everything and take pictures if you have a camera. Remove vacuum lines , spark plugs/wires, carb linkage, any wires to the alternator or sensors/guages that would be in the way. Remove air cleaner and carb. remove intake manifold. Remove alternator belt. Remove alternator (Also A/C compressor on other side if applicable) and lay aside. Remove valve covers. Have a LARGE clean bench top for the next step. Remove rockers and push rods one valve at a time and lay them IN ORDER together (labeled) until all sixteen sets are out. Remove head bolts/ heads.

Ok guys, did I miss something? Iv'e done it lots of times but my memory sucks.

[Oldsmaniac]

Drain coolant and use the drain plugs near the bottom on block sides....I believe the bolts for exhaust manifolds etc. go right thru to water jacket so if you do not drain the block all the way down you may end up with coolant in the oil pan. I would suggest you have the heads redone if you are going thru all the trouble of pulling them....you will need new gaskets and a torque wrench and shop manual to tork bolts properly.

[Run to Rund]

Get intake and head gaskets first. I wouldn't risk having to leave it apart for an extended time while begging for rare gaskets. Be sure you have the torque specs.

[54olds]

Thanks all for the pointers! You have a great site here!

[54olds]

Pulled the intake manifold today, found the missing lifter and put it back in place. More worrisome, I found a washer laying on top of one of the lifters (see pics below.)

http://i32.tinypic.com/10wmuep.jpg
http://i30.tinypic.com/29lybsy.jpg

I do not know what this is for or where it should go. Any ideas, folks??

[Oldsmaniac]

Missing lifer?....any more info?...Did it come apart or did it come all the way out and was laying there?....The washer was there as pictured?...Was that the lifter that was missing as well?....No washer of any type should be anywhere under that valley cover or near any lifters.....

[54olds]

The lifter must have pulled up and out when I removed the pushod. It was OK - I just put it back in place after I removed the intake manifold.

The washer was a bit of a mystery - it was on one of the other pushrods for some reason. The only thing I can figure out is a previous owner must have gotten sloppy and left it in there :0

[Rallye469]

So that washer was on a different lifter (than the one that popped out)?

First off, just the lifter popping out is kinda weird all by itself.
-there's no weird clips on this type of lifter is there???

Second...is that exactly where you found the washer? With the pushrod
going right through the middle of it?
It's got an indent in it from where it sat on the lifter right?
Thats bizarre!
Was it at one time attached to the bottom edge of the head to somehow
act as a guide? Then it came off and slid down to where it sat when you saw it?
(sorry, I just looked at the pict again...your pushrods don't pass directly into the head, they go through the block first don't they?)

I'm stumped.

[gearheads78]

Its a very rare highy sought after "+1 washer" motor. Its good for an aditional .00012545 horsepower

So the pushrod was through the washer and this was a running motor? It had to have a heck of a valvetrain noise.

[54olds]

First off, just the lifter popping out is kinda weird all by itself.
-there's no weird clips on this type of lifter is there???

No - the lifters sit in a channel on top of the cam. When I pulled the pushrod, it was stuck to the lifter and just pulled it out of the channel. I found it sitting on the camshaft when I pulled the intake manifold.

Second...is that exactly where you found the washer? With the pushrod
going right through the middle of it?
It's got an indent in it from where it sat on the lifter right?

That's where it was - it did have a slight indent from the lifter.

Was it at one time attached to the bottom edge of the head to somehow
act as a guide? Then it came off and slid down to where it sat when you saw it?

I don't think so - the center hole is much too large to act as a guide for the pushrod - I think some yahoo accidentally dropped it in there during previous work.

[54olds]

Originally Posted by gearheads78

Its a very rare highy sought after "+1 washer" motor. Its good for an aditional .00012545 horsepower

So the pushrod was through the washer and this was a running motor? It had to have a heck of a valvetrain noise.

Heh heh - it did have some engine noise, but that could have been from sticky lifters. 13 of the 16 were stuck solid. I took them apart and cleaned them in some solvent. They work like new now

[Oldsguy]

You should be better off than previously then. Stuck lifters would not do much good if they can't "pump up" as they should. The valve train would not have had the correct cushion provided by the lifters or the full lift any particular valve associated with a stuck
"deflated" lifter should have. Hopefully you will find the engine running quieter and better now.