Vanner in Los Angeles needs help

I hear ya Don and I know what he is doing and it is nothing but a rip off. He does not want to work on it. There is a guy selling a head on craigslist for $200 right now. I can order a head online for $335.00 from another outfit. I also know what it took for me to have that head rebuilt. I can order a long block for $1700.00 and he wants $1600 just to recondition a head?!?!? WTF

Sis and I made enough room in her garage that we can park side by side so that makes life easier on her that way.

Was thinking about getting ahold of the guy Carl ? that offered to let me park and work on it at his place. Does anyone know Carl? I would not want to impose on a guy that no one knows and I do not know if he has any experience with working on the slants or not. I don't remember seeing him post anything in here?

Anyway, being told by this guy 1600 justs shows how much of a rip off people can be and yet portray themselves as being "nice guys"... He is used to working on multi thousands of dollar custom cars for guys that have too much money and not enough brains...

I was planning on doing just what you suggest Don... pulling the head so I can see just what shape the gasket is in and then I will be able to see what condition the valves are in.

Being at the mercy of ripoffs is not what this trip was supposed to turn out to be! It was supposed to be a fun time and my first long camping trip in years and years...

Oh well, shit happens...
I will let you know what happens later this morning when I get back over there and get the thing moved.
Going to call Carl and stop by his place if he is around and see what kind of parking he has - it may be a lot easier to park it and camp in his yard while I do this too. Do not know at this point.

Right now I am also hobbling around and feel like a pretzel I hurt so much.
Makes life so much more fun this way.

One of my brothers says 1600! Go buy ya honda and sell that money pit you have! He doesn't realize that other than the new radiator, this thing has not cost me hardly anything in the 13 years I have been driving it since I rebuilt it!

By the way, he told me that it was leaking out the tailpipe on the test - no other place. He also quoted - new spark plugs, oil filter and radiator fluids - all of which are less than a few hours old!

THEN LETS GET THE PARTY STARTED!
drain about a gallon of coolant out,,,take off the valve cover, upper hose and temp sender wire,,,,,loosen the intake and exhaust bolts,,,,pull it away from the head,,,count the threads or turns on a rocker nut,,,,loosen them,,,pull the pushrods take the head bolts out,,,,,TAKE THE HEAD OFF,,,,,,flip it over,,,,pour water on valves,,,,,see how bad water leaks down into the ports,,,,,

LOL !!!
I still have to get the damn thing back here and into the garage before i can even think about wrenching! But I totally appreciate the pages! It's been 9 years since I did a head gasket, and my gray matter has gotten a little less gray over the years now!!!

,,,just a little motivation for you,,,,,,,,kind of to put it into a package,,,,,,its really hard to get started with everything happening at once and scattered all over the place,,,,,

I hear ya!
The tow company has been called - the shop will have it back in running order when the tow truck gets there. SO I have to have the garage ready to back it in and snuggle it against one wall.

Once there, I can start tearing things apart.
Including my back!!!

Happy days are here again!!!
shitfire dammit... lol

I sure didnt like that idea of leaving your van at a shop,,,,,,they could keep it for a month,,,,,until they feel like getting to it,,,,,,,and what are you gonna do in the meantime,,,,,,,,

The van is runnable again and waiting on the tow truck which should be there or here sometime around 11...

Then I park it as close to the wall of stuff sis has in the garage and hope there is enough room for her and I to park in it together so she does not have to deal with neighbors and association commandos!

Then I sart taking pieces off and loosening things to get ready...
Including draining all the fluids and trying to keep them clean and reuseable...

one step and one piece at a time and you will see what you got,,,,,,and then make a plan,,,,,,I would not do all the fluids until you see what you got,,,,,just get the coolant level down enough below the head,,,,,,

Yea - that was my first major concern.
After that,
will it and my sisters car fit in the same garage with all her crap!!!

LOL

the garage crap is moved and ready
I am waiting to hear from the tow truck driver...

DONE!!!




Backed in first time - one hand steering - the other at the carb pulling on the throttle! And it huffing and chuffing the whole way!

I already need a break!!!

Good luck Dan, I hope it all works out for you...boy, that's a tight squeeze in that garage! Hope your sis has a small car!

Holy crap! I'm lucky my lady doesn't have that much space to pile it up (or am I piling??)  
Dan, good luck with the engine. Ya'll get it going again - I'm sure!

Thanks guys!
If you notice, the van is at least a foot or more away from the centerline in the concrete and with her car parked where she can park it close to the other wall, it only came within about a foot of that same line - so fingers crossed!

Hey 69 guy,,,,,,how much did it cost you to ship your Dodge van from here to Germany????

It was 300$ to get the truck from Scotts Valley (1h south of SFO) to LA. Then 1300$ for shipping from LA to Bremerhaven (loading container + shipping on ship). Then, add another 400$ for unloading in Germany including moving it to storage, add another approx. 700$ for customs and another 100$ for all kind of rip off charges. Total approx. almost three grand . Seems a lot for a little truck... But that's what it is, what you have to pay for falling in love with a truck overseas

This is when the vessel with the truck somewhere on it passed the panama canal and leaving Halifax (that vessel, btw, is able to load approx 4700 20ft containers...)

Radiator is draining now...

Plenty of room to park both rigs! Turns out the car is bigger than the van and they both have the same wheelbase! The car is longer and wider than the van and everyone thinks it's so big! I told sis that it's just because it's tall that everyone thinks it is bigger than other rigs...

Today I try to get some of the stuff off the motor and out of the way...

There you go,,,,,,,once you get over the shock and the dust settles,,,,,,you can start seeing more clearly,,,,,,,,I think you are getting a little more hope ,,,,,,,,things just dont seem as hopeless now,,,,,,,,,

Had to stop for awhile - left leg went into frickin spasms!
Thought I was going to fall over trying to walk!
Too crunched into a pretzel to stay that way for long.
Came in and had a banana!
lol

I noticed one of the manifold nuts missing!
No telling how long it's been gone!
One of the underneath basset turds too!

What's the next step in the removal process?
I know I need to keep the push rods in the same order, so I will be taking some cardboard and rigging up a holder for them. Just not sure what I should do next - I am thinking that I need to get the I+E manifolds off next...

Dan - I sent you a PN with a link. Maybe helpful for someone being far from one's own shop.

Best
Jens

Rocker assembly sitting on one of my new cabinets...
Along with a box of oily push rods...

My back is not drunk enough for much more of this...

move or take the manifolds away from the head,,,,,,,,look at my picture above at the head bolt sequence,,,,,,,give a 1/2 turn loosen in backwards order,,,,,starting at 14, work your way around to 1,,,,,then you can just pull them all out,,,,,,lift off the head,,,,

Head is loose.
Manifolds still connected...
Two strong guys to lift it out are next!

Or - and this is the more likely scenario - one skinny old wrinkly guy and a couple of pieces of wood and some rope will yank it out!!!

and drop it on his foot in the process!!!
lol

sitting here just looking at how black the inside of this thing is has me actually thinkinng about how long I have been running it - and hard all the time too!

my kids grew up in this thing and they loved it when I would absolutely freak people out by spanking them at giddeeupand go with this thing!

lol
I always told them "I may be old, but I'm not dead yet!"
THis is my old guys way of messing with people!
They still love this thing.
One of my sons offered to drive down and get me! He's 17 and I told him no way! LOL

Anyway, break time - big time for me - no more wrenching today...
besides...
it's beer 30!!!