308 HEADS STUCK FAST

Spray studs with AeroKroil,,, wait 3 days,,, run around the block three times,,,, shout to our God "Enzo!",,, place 2 X 4 in good spot,, hammer with a BIG hammer.

Repeat.


Good Luck,
Edwardo
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Just be careful........lots of time....wood wedges....don't pry the castings!

There's a plate puller out there also.........it is the corrosion at the studs you are fighting, as well as the gaskets seals.....so focus on penetrants down the studs.

 

The best, easiest, fastest, safest way to get stuck 2v heads off is with a head puller.

Here are picutre for how I did it for a 2v v12, but a v8 would be similar. For the 12 it made sense to make 3 separate pullers, but on an 8 most guys use 1 big plate. Good luck!
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Looks very sweet! Much better than hammers and wedges...I never liked that. So you crank a little at a time to prevent any distortion, correct?

 

Yes, 1/2 a turn all the way around then repeat until the head is off. Pulling both heads took about 15-20 minutes after the puller was made, and these heads were STUCK. Making the puller took about 2 hours I think.

Pulling the heads on my QV engine with a BIG hammer and wedges took 18 hours of work. Making a puller for QV is much harder becasue the bolts are under the cams.

 

3lb hammer and a trusty 2x4 3 hours tops.

Good luck Rizzo
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Hey Mark,
What do you push against using the puller? I'm assuming the puller bolts up to the head, then some big bolts go through the puller and push against something....the head bolts?? I would love some more detailed pictures.

Birdman

 

Not sure if this will apply, but I have used, on my alfa 4 cyl, the famous rope trick. Very safe on soft alum alloy parts, no stripping of spark plug hole threads, no steel whatsoever. The rope trick amazed me, and the stubborn head just popped loose!!

Joe

 

The puller plate is attached to the head using the cam cap & cam cover studs. The push bolts go thru the plate & press against the ends of the head studs. Presumably the points on the push bolt ends are to keep the push bolts from slipping around on/off of the studs.

Pizzaman, your studs were atypical, IIRC, they had almost zero corrosion on them.

 

What?....What is the rope trick?

 

The puller plate is attached to the head using the cam cap & cam cover studs. The push bolts go thru the plate & press against the ends of the head studs. Presumably the points on the push bolt ends are to keep the push bolts from slipping around on/off of the studs.

Pizzaman, your studs were atypical, IIRC, they had almost zero corrosion on them.

 

Rope trick coulda had it out like......POP!

 

Again, Im not saying it will work on all cars, it will depend on how the pattern of firing order is on that engine, maybe some expert on that will weigh in to jhelp out here....

It works best if the firing order is symmetrical, meaning, that the 2 middle cylinders go up, while the 2 outer go down, if you get me.

Remove plugs, put car in gear, and roll car just so that the 2 middle cylinders are down. then, stuff by hand, a cloth rope, about width of small finger, into the spark plug hole of both middle cylinders, until no more rope fits in there. The idea is to then rock the car back/forth forcing the cylinders to press onto the rope in middle cylinders, pushing on the head. You can, I believe, choose to use the 2 outer cylinders as well. Same symmetry. No stripped spark plug holes, no wedges, no milling steel .

Of course, if your ferrari's firing order is not this way, this may not work. We need to verify this 1st.

Do at your own risk, as with anything.......

Joe

 

4 Hours?? Might want to "rope a dope" with this:

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/spider-1966-up/35848-now-head-wont-pull-out-stuck.html

Anyway, whatever way you want to do it, dont strip any soft aluminum alloy parts.

 

riggo,

If you get really desperate, In the old Fchat archives, another Aussie describes making a 'deep hole saw' out of thin wall steel tubing w/ID same as the stud OD. Chucked it into a drill, used lots of cutting fluid & 'sawed' down thru the corrosion. I can't remember the specifics, or what problems this approach created.

 

Wow. That's utterly insane.

But it's crazy enough to work... and F-car's flat-plane crank V8s are just twin 4-bangers.

 

Hello from Germany,

that rope trick regularly makes me worrying. I hear / read it all the time but know noone in person who actually did it. Sometimes I believe, that it's an urban legend.

I also have an Alfa 4-cyl. ( '72 2000 GTV ) as well as my 308 GTB. And fortunately my Alfa head always came off without the rope trick, though a torture for my back.
But removal of the head of the Alfa is a completely different issue, than with the Ferrari.
While it's possible to do a head gasket job on the Alfa within 4 hrs. from the beginning till the car is back on the road, a 308 head job is a matter of days, or weeks with - in most cases - engine out. Therefore no pushing the car in gear back and forth.
And I don't know, whether one can apply enough force by cranking the engine on the pulley. But if someone wants to try it, the most important point is - and I miss it in your posting - , that the valves of the cylinders you fill with rope are CLOSED. Say, removal of the camshafts first. Or you will end up installing a new set of valves and valve guides.
An additional point, why I would never use the rope trick, is, that you should definitely avoid upward movement of any pistons while the head is loose. This does NOT apply, if you want to pull the liners anyway. But if it's just a head gasket job, upward movement of pistons can lead to permanent leaks on the lower O-Rings of the liners. Then you have to pull the liners, install new O-Rings.........
Therefore never crank an engine with 'wet liners' while the head is off.
I think, that this rope trick can lead to more problems, than it solves. Unless it's an engine which needs a complete rebuild anyway.

Best Regards

Martin

 

Sounds like a fantasy. Making the "hole saw" could be harder than you think. You could end up with something stuck between the head and the stud.

I've pulled V12 Jaguar heads with the 1/2" steel plate puller that I made that had to be stuck worse than a 308 (several more studs!). If you have it on there straight, have it attached everywhere you can to the head, and pull evenly (1/4 turn on each bolt), I don't know how you can fail.

 

The other option is to use a hacksaw and cut off the cylinder head studs between the head and the block. Then you have to weld nuts to the remainder of the studs in order to unscrew them from the block.