M20 head gasket DIY?

[bryn_p]

Afternoon gents,

How difficult is replacing the head gasket on an M20?
I have dismantled/rebuilt an E30 but never opened up the engine before.
How much time should I allow for it and are there other bits I should replace whilst doing it?

Thanks in advance,
Bryn.

[chu346]

Its a bit of a pain if you haven't had much practice at this kind of thing. I found it quite time consuming, but not hard. You could do with a manual (Haynes/Bentley) to help you with tightening torque's, sequences and timing marks etc.

You could do with changing the cam belt and drive belts. You might aswell throw in a hot cam if you have the spare cash and plan on keeping the car.

Have you ever done this kind of thing before?

[TOURINGDADDY]

AND get ur head crack tested or you'll spend all that time & money 4 nothing

[chu346]

AND get ur head crack tested or you'll spend all that time & money 4 nothing

True.

I knew i forgot to mention something

[bryn_p]

Nope, done plenty of general maintenance and servicing before but nothing with engine internals. Got a Haynes manual so that's a start.

What kind of company would I look for to do a crack test on the head?

Thanks for your help gents,
Bryn.

[chu346]

If you wanna crack test on the head, just go to a backstreet garage near you and ask them if they can recommend someone local. Its not really a job that you need a lot of experiance of like porting etc.