When removing the heads, would it help to position the cylinders at a
certain point from TDC to avoid movement of the cylinders?

Others have suggested tapping the heads with a mallet to free the cylinder
from the head.

Any other tricks or tips are welcome.

Ken M.
Toronto, On
87GL

-----Original Message-----
From: mark drillock [mailto:drillock@EARTHLINK.NET]
Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2002 8:12 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Cylinder Heads!

If the cylinders pulled off far enough to expose any of the rings you
are in for it. It is really important to not allow this to happen but it
sometimes does anyway.

In order to get the cylinder to slide back in over the expanded rings
you need to use something to squeeze the rings back into their grooves.
Then it needs to slide down the piston as you push the cylinder over the
rings one by one. After all 3 rings on that piston are back inside the
cylinder you need to be able to remove the tool you used to compress the
rings. This is the tricky part as there is very little room to do
anything after the cylinder is back over the rings.

I used a large hose clamp to compress the rings. I looked around at
different hardware stores till I found one just wide enough to cover all
3 rings. It did not completely cover the outer rings but enough to
compress them. Position the clamp screw area such that you can get to it
after the rings are back in the cylinder. I used a small ratcheting 90
degree screwdriver. Oil the rings and piston first so the hose clamp
will slide out of the way as you work the cylinder back on. After the
rings are covered you unscrew the hose clamp completely and pull it out.
I tied heavy fishing line to it before I used it so I would be able to
pull the clamp out after it was was unscrewed.

Turn the crank so the piston you are working on is sticking out as far
as possible. TDC. Before you turn the crank rig something to keep any
other exposed cylinders from moving.

Good luck, be patient and use enough lighting to see what you are doing.

Mark

Chris Winesette wrote:
>
> Ok I think i'm in big trouble.  I just removed one of the heads to fix the
> gasket leak and when I pulled the head off the cylinders stuck to it.  Do
I
> have to pull the engine to get fix this.  Any advise would be great.