Dumb is as Dumb does (exaust valve / head gasket replacement)

Your ownership experience sounds AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Don't be too worried about the engine out. In the long run it will save you time. On a carb car it is super easy and plan on one day out and one day in. While out you will have such incredible access that you'll get those two days back quite quickly. The biggest thing is to be disciplined and not to get carried away with creating a concours car. Regardless with the engine out you can clean in ways that are otherwise impossible and take care of a lot of hoses and bits that are otherwise near impossible to do.

 

If you still have the plastic cam pulleys I would check to make sure they aren’t cracked at the fences or de- laminated from the steel hub. I just ran out of adjustable square tooth pulleys but still have a few sets of modern HTD/GT2 pulleys that let you push belt changes to 9 years or 60k km.

 

I understand your concern and you're right, pulling the engine is absolutely going to lead to mission creep and all of the "while I'm in here" scenarios that you can dream of. My issue was a leaking head gasket and it was #4 cylinder so I could have gone the route you are considering but ultimately decided against it and it took me 18 months to finally get it all done but I enjoyed doing it,learned a lot and have no regrets with my decision.

Still, everyone's situation is different and it's your decision to make. You could start by trying to pull the 1-4 head off in-situ and see how it goes. There will be no harm if you decide to change course and pull the whole lump out after all.

 

Considering the ... circumstances, you did get lucky with the head. Buy some lottery tickets yet?

 

Yeehaw! Like I said my heads came off with no problem too and I went through the same anxiety convinced that it was going to be hell.

But it wasn’t.

 

The melted shields are the result of rich running or whatever caused your valve problems...

Kind of s shoulder shrug thing really, I have melted them and blown them to bits.

Its asbestos leaking out so watch that detail..

 

The insulation is really to keep the heat IN the header, not so much to protect the under hood environment.
It combined with the air injectors to "continue oxidizing" unburned HC in the exhaust paipe.

Euro cars never used it.
You won't be transporting chocolates in the trunk either way....

 

Glad to hear you got lucky! I might too when I tell my wife I might be selling more parts from the boxes cluttering up my office My email is derekrwhite at yahoo-com

I love that colour— surprised I do but I think my taste is changing (hope it’s not Covid19)

 

... tell me your valve shim sizes. I can send them a few thou longer or shorter to allow for future wear. The seats wear faster than the tips, tappets, shims, and cams.

 

One suggestion: remove the gas tank.
The other suggestion you did not do was ... remove the engine.

 

See what he said.

 

I have changed that long heater hose that runs through the driver side rocker on my 82 GTS. I removed the driver side fuel tank as Mitchell suggested above, attached the new hose to the existing hose , Applied Dawn dishwashing soap with a paper towel and it slid completely through with ease. Pulled it from the back forward. I certainly wouldn’t want to try it with the tank in place. 2cts