Heads went to the shop this morning, surfaces were nice and flat but I've left them there so they can have all mating surfaces cleaned up, and those broken exhaust manifold bolts removed. In the meantime, I'll prep and clean the block. Aside from the mating surface, what cleaning should I do on...

Thanks for your recommendations. I live in South Wales, so I fear all of the well-known shops on this forum will be out of my reach! I've been out this morning to take some close up pictures. Got both sides of each gasket, a closer look at each cylinder, and one of the heads. I couldn't see...

Thanks again all, your input is greatly appreciated. I'll get some better pictures in the morning, and I'll have a close look at no 8 to see if it's a crack.

Thanks for your opinions, I'm relieved to hear that. If there's any additional photos I can provide, please let me know. At this point, I have to reassemble either way. I'll take the heads to the machine shop on Monday and see what the tech says. There might still be hope!

Pictures attached below. I've only had it a month, got it cheap from a no-reserve auction so I knew the risks. Has about 85k miles

Morning, Good news is that the heads are off. Bad news - the gaskets look like they're in pretty good nick to me. I was praying for an obvious blown gasket, but it seems that's not the case.

Gasket looked in good nick on the passenger side. I'm hoping to see a damaged one on the driver's side, otherwise I'll be in trouble...

Right you were. Snapped one of my sock size adapters last night. But the good news is I've got the passenger side head off, after much swearing and knuckle scraping. Now it's just the much harder driver side left. I've taken the wheel arch out, so if the weather behaves, I'll hopefully get the...

I guess who ever had this before me decided to swap the wheel bolts, as they aren't the normal 27mm. Looks to be around 22mm - one of the only sizes I haven't got 🙃 Today's progress.. Managed to get the exhaust manifold off on the passenger side. Now trying to get to the head bolts - the ones...

Today's update. Slow progress, managed to get the top exhaust manifold bolts out purely just by mangling the heat shields out of the way. The tricky part now is getting the lower ones out, access from underneath is pretty impossible. My mangler, an 18 inch masonry chisel, has proven useful but...

Silly question, but aren't the exhaust manifolds bolted to the cylinder head itself? Or do you mean they unbolted the manifolds from the lower end and pulled the lot out all at once?

Thanks for your replies. I could maybe try and hack the top ones off, but access to the bottom ones might be a bit tricky. Car is on it's arse right now, so not really any room to get underneath or under the wheel arch lining. I'll try the brutal methods tomorrow once my hands have healed a...

Afternoon all, I bit the bullet and decided to try my hand at getting the heads off myself. All was going very well, until... Those bast*rd exhaust heat shield bolts. 16 of them total, and only 2 have come out. The rest of them are seized and rounded, result of another handyman's work it...

What's the purpose of keeping the throttle open? Apologies if a silly question. I've removed fuse 39 (Fuel Pump) so stop the engine going while I'm running the test. Just tried to remove the first plug - my ratchet wrench is comically oversized for this job so might have to take the exhaust...

I've just been to Halfords and picked one up. I'll have a crack at it in the morning - are any of the plugs particularly tricky to get out on the Thor engines?

Thanks, they look to be the cheapest at the moment. I've called nine (9!) garages so far, none of them do compression testing! I'd rather not buy my own kit for a one time use. The search continues

Just been looking at this catalogue, am I right in thinking that this is what I need: AZ510A No front row-20 per engine Want to confirm as a lot of the sets I've seen have only included 10 studs

Apologies if this is a stupid question, but wouldn't the compression test fail regardless of if it was a HG issue or a block issue?

It all sounds very tempting. I might get in touch with V8 Developments and find out what the process is. I'm willing to throw a bit of money at it to secure its longevity (and resale value). Only problem is getting the block out - definitely don't have the equipment for it at home. I'll have to...

Appreciate your support. I've been doing a lot of reading up over the last day, and I'm quite interested in getting flanged liners fitted. Has anyone here had it done recently? I'd like a once-and-forever solution just in case I have a cracked or porous block. Trying to price it up, but I...