"How to" on changing head gasket 92 240?

Hello,

As much as some people hate them, the haynes manuals are very good on this subject, apart from some not very clear advice on whether you need to use new 'stretch bolts', so it's better/safer to use new ones anyway. The job is not technically difficult, if you go at it steadily, in an organised manner, but you need to follow all procedures and tests meticulously, or damage can be done without you even knowing it until later on, a trustworthy assistant can be of benefit (the head is heavy). The need for the head/block to be skimmed/refaced should be considered especially if the engine severely overheated, and the redblocks are somewhat notorious for corrosion between the water journals and the cylinders. If you are doing the head, have you thought about changing the timing belt as well? Do the intake valve stem seals need renewing? It's a waste of effort not to really, when you have ready access to it! But where a manual or instruction says 'tighten to xxxft/lbs torque', then do just that; I thought I knew better once, then very expensively discovered I was wrong.

Best wishes, Ken

You should use new stretch bolts and also inspect the freeze plugs for corrosion. Change the front seals too. Plastiguage the cam keepers for wear and check for cracks. Line up the timing belts for the cam and interidate shaft and check that the distributor roter points to the no.1 plug wire.Sometimes the belt gets replaced without doing this and they just pull the distributor and reset it. The B230 is a non interferance engine so if you need to turn the crank or cam to line the marks uo it will not hurt anything. Good luck. BTW except for a Pinto, these are the easyest cars to work on.