Refitting cam housings and cylinder head studs

Having finally finished sorting out the tappet shims, the next step was to reassemble the head.
AHAH   gentle reader...  time to play ,"Spot the moron"! I haven't worked on ohc motors before and completely forgot that fitting cam carriers blocks access to the head nuts!!!! Sooo... the head must be fitted before you can fit the cam carriers!!! I fitted the carriers at this stage only to come unstuck later. The method here is OK so I won't repeat it later but be warned... fit the head first!!!


The first thing was to take it apart after the last shim check

Head assembled from last shim check! 

Exhaust cam housing

 I stuck the tappet shims in place with assembly lube and also brushed some around the shim buckets

Remove the old O ring from the oil spigot roll pin.

2 new ones supplied with head gasket set

I used Gemlok PG307 to seal the cam houses to the head. This is the same stuff I used to seal the MBP to the block

Continuous bead around the edges of the cam house- going inboard of all the studs.

 This is the exhaust cam house. For this I put the compound on the actual housing inboard of the mounting studs. I could then invert it onto the head and torque it down evenly.

For the inlet cam housing I tried adding the gasket goo to the cam house. This is a smooth surface and much easier to apply, however it is all too easy to overflow the contact area and put too much on.

Cam house about to be lowered onto the head and torqued down.

 I think overall the second method- applying the gasket maker to the smooth surface is probably easier and faster- certainly it gave me more confidence in achieving a seal. I think I have undoubtedly used too much but hey- I don't want to be doing this again in the near future*  so I don't want any leaks.
*(Hollow laugh added later!)
The next step was to refit all the studs in the head. There are 12 exhaust manifold studs (40 mm), 9 inlet manifold studs (35 mm; the head is drilled and tapped for 11 but the manifold has only got holes for 9!) and a single cam belt guard stud (45mm) that fits into the side of the head (exhaust side) near the front. This stud needs an O ring seal. I don't really know what this is for because my guard was disassembled when I got it and many parts are missing. However I have refitted it. Sadly the O ring seal wasn't included in a head gasket kit so I used a nitrile one of a close fit.

I had already cleaned all the studs and chased their threads with a spare die and chucked out any bent or terminally corroded ones. I don't think they are perfect but they will do. In fact I had several that were unsaveable and so I fitted about 9 new ones overall.

I used thread seal to lubricate and fix the studs. I have had too many experiences where the stud unscrews from the head instead of the nut when trying to remove a manifold. I'm trying to prevent these in the future.

 I screwed all studs into the head down to their saddles using a stud remover/installer socket.

Here we have it head assembled! The cam covers are only resting on to keep out the much until I'm ready to refit it to the block.