Long story short, I have a good 3.4 engine, that has an EZ out broke off in one of the heads. Someone tried (unsuccessfully) to remove the exhaust headers, and twisted off a lot of the bolts. In the process of trying to rectifying the situation, they broke off an EZ off in the bolt they were trying to remove, and now we are in a pickle. It is a large EZ out and almost the size of the bolt. To remove the EZ out/bolt, the head needs to come off and mounted in a milling machine. So, I have removed heads off a Ford 460 and rebuilt that engine, but wanted to know what I was getting into as far as trying to remove the heads off of the 3.4. I would love it if someone could break down the process and let me know how difficult it is. The machine shop doesn't want to touch removing the head. They just want the head off of the engine. I have posted this on renntech.com also. Thanks in advance!
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YOUR RESEARCHProcess to remove heads on 1999 - 3.4 996
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as far as I know there is nothing too difficult about taking *off* the head, apart from being careful with the sequence of head bolts and doing it gradually. Also remember that part of the cam bearings are milled into the cam covers, so be careful not to ding them or damage them. Also remember to remove the chain tensioners beforehand. Putting the head back on is a whole different story. If I were you I'd considering putting new chains on where I could while you're in there.
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Yes, very difficult to install the head without lowering the engine. with one head removed you can only replace the one cam to cam chain.
You will need the cam timing tool kit, the cam bearings are seated in the valve cover and if you remove the cover without the timing tool fitted in the end of the cams ( once you remove the two green plugs ) the cams lift from the back as there is only one cam bearing at the front under the cover at the variocam end but apart from that it's not too bad, unbolt vario assembly and cam bolts at that end then cams and vario come away in one go, then unbolt lifter housing underneath then get to head bolts and it's off!
Great. Thanks for the help. Getting back to this project. I have the tool that comes with the IMS replacement kit, that locks the cams in place. I assume that will work. I am guessing that I will need two kits to take both heads off at the same time? Also, how difficult is it to reinstall and get timing back?
1. remove the engine 2. put the engine at TDC and lock the cams 3. remove the cam cover, then cams 4. remove the head 5. repeat on the other bank
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