308 QV heads won't come off...

guys / gals,

we are having problems getting my 84 QV heads to come off. Have not used pry bars or wedges yet.. but that is likely next option. Does anyone have any ideas / thoughts or recommendations?

Thanks!

 

Here’s a couple of threads I found:
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/308-head-removal-tool.528242/
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/looking-for-a-2v-308-head-removal-tool.585209/
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/a-real-308-qv-328-head-removal-option.611316/

 

Thank you miketuason

any other ideas / pullers etc.. send them this way please!

 

The alloy head will be catching on the steel head fixings , due to corrosion. I know of a ferrari V 12 engine took 3 weeks with a steel pulling plate, a bit more pressure everyday with plusgas or similar.

 

Use an acetylene torch with a large rosebud attachment and an IR thermometer and get the head over 300 degrees through and through before using whatever pulling device you are choosing. The heat will loosen it. Apply heat slowly and evenly. It will take considerable time. Be patient. It will be a long slow process.

 

Wood wedges perhaps once moving on the studs.

I would put the metal pry bars away and carefully follow Rifeldrivers instructions.

Pulling them cold can take days.....weeks.......longer.
Known issue.

Who is working on your car???

 

Rope Trick worked for me:
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/observations-on-a-gt4-engine-pull.458208/

 

We used to use the 10 ton overhead crane on the diesel heads which got stuck- mind you the pistons were 900 mm diameter. Google Sulzer RND 90

 

Those need a crane no matter what.

 

The cylinder head nuts used be put on with flogging spanners and 7 lb sledges, before they changed over to hydraulic jacks . 4 ton in a liner.

 

Short of using a torch as Rifleman suggested, since you are not in a time constraint, a couple of infrared heat lamps left on constantly for a number of days with repeated application of a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF with a squirt bottle on to the tops of the studs combined with the rope method, lots of patience and persistence. There is also a point on each end that you can get a purchase on with a length of 2x2 pine and whack with a 3 or 5 pound small sledge hammer. The impacts may not appear to be doing anything but combined with everything else they can have an effect.

If nothing else it will keep you busy and make you feel like you're doing something.

 

so you don’t know how stuck yet. Loosen nuts and use engine crane hang motor from the head. That’s a good bit of passive force on that connection. Wack with heavy rubber mallet helps. Then escalate depending on stuckness.

 

All purpose tool... lol

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This is our shocked face . I had a very hard time getting my ex-308 heads off when the car was just 12 years old -- on now 30~40 year old 308s, it's amazing that it can be done at all. Here are some reference photos of the tooling gymnastics that Moorespeed had to go thru to get the heads off my (~20-year-old at the time) TR -- needing to build something to bolt onto the head on each side to have something to push with and something to bolt onto the engine block/gearbox on each side to have something to push against (since the ends of the head studs are shrouded by the head casting itself, and, I think, 308QVs may have the same issue):

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Plus some preheat (and a lot of presoaking):

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Seen that idea before and lends itself well to the TR. Have yet to figure out how to apply to QV. I have successfully used heat. Seems 300-350 degrees gets the corrosion to let go. Done it several times. On a cold day it takes a long time. Left for hours under heat lamps first but it needs to be hot through and through.

 

So one bar is bolted to the head via the exhaust studs, and the other bar is attached/bolted to the engine and then the long allen head bolts push one away from the other? I ask because I am about to embark on a TR valve job.

 

That's only on the exhaust side (using the angle iron pieces). On the intake side, the large rectangular bar is bolted to the intake runner studs and has nuts welded on it with long allen bolts (the allen bolt heads are inside the large rectangular bar). The smaller rectangular bar is bolted to the threaded studs for the connecting rod bolt access covers and has round solid pieces welded at an angle so the ends are parallel to the head gasket (I believe the round pieces go thru the tube and rest on the inside face of the tube -- so the tube doesn't get crushed). Some more photos to show additional details:

Turning the long Allen bolts in the large rectangular tube:
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The smaller rectangular tube on the engine block side before the round pieces were added, and the large rectangular tube on the cyl head before the nuts were welded on: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
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This photo shows the angled solid round pieces go thru to the inside face of the tube against the engine and the nuts welded to the large rectangular tube with the long allen bolts installed: Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

thanks guys! will keep everyone posted.

 

Nick's Forza