head gasket?

[craiganblank1]

I have a 302 with blown head gasket. How hard is it to fix? Thanks.

 

[madmax]

I have a 302 with blown head gasket. How hard is it to fix? Thanks.

youll have to remove your cylinder head to change it, this means removing the carburetor the intake manifold and the valve cover, assuming you aren't working with a fuel infected model. for EFI you'll need to remove the upper intake then the fuel rail, the injectors should be okay where they are just unplug the wires, then remove the lower intake manifold, then remove the valve covers and the heads. make sure to replace any gaskets you take off and iv'e found it best to use colored sharpies to mark the vacuum hoses and their locations, made it easier for me when I upgraded to bosh quad port injectors.

EDIT

You might want to get a couple 2X12's and a few cindre blocks or 5 gallon buckets so you don't have to destroy your lower back working on it, also it's not a bad idea to remove the hood latch, it really hurts to fall on it.

 

[craiganblank1]

Thanks man. Lots of good info here.

 

[noahsdad86]

be weary though because sometimes head gaskets blow for a reason. This might be a situation where you take the head to a machine shop to have it magna fluxed to find out for sure if it is warped or cracked. Just a little extra insurance so you dont do the work several times

 

[madmax]

yea they usually dont blow for no reason, Definatley atleast worth having the heads checked to make sure they aren't warped, though the block could be warped too.

302's do have a problem with the water jacket leaking into the back cylinders. simply not enough room between the cylinder wall and the water jacket. So It simply could have been a less than perfect gasket waiting to fail.