Stuck Head & Other Suprises

[Jason Ball <madmac@domain.elided>]

I'm in the process of swapping motors from my newly acquired 87 Milano
donor car to my smoking 87 Milano Silver.    Into the process I
discovered a bit of oil in the coolant ...DAMN....so now i'm pulling the
heads (with motor in donor car).

Then, when I set the motor to TDC (rotating the motor forward not
backward) I noticed that the passenger side cam was 1 or 2 degrees a d v
a n c e d. (Hmmmmm?????)

Now,  I'm trying pull the heads and no go.    So here is my  next round
of questions:


1. How do I free the heads with out without resorting to cracking them
off?
- --I tapped the front of the driver's side head with a 2x4 and the front
of the head seems to be lift a tad as I see a bit of coolant leaking out
now.
- --I would like to try hooking my engine hoist to eyelet on the exhaust
side but I fear I could bend the head studs if something goes wrong.
- -- In another digest someone suggested "blowing" the heads off by
removing the cam and turning the motor over.   Has anyone tried this?
I would think it would just blow the gasket apart.... but I'm new to all
this insanity.

2. The mistimed cam concerns me. I can t see how it could have slipped
forward.  I wonder if I should be messing with this motor at all if the
the previous owner/mechanic  was that terrible.......

3. How can I tell which type of mechanical tentioner I have.
- --I'm not impressed with the de-tentioner currently installed as I was
able to slip the belt off with out slackening the tentioner .   I have
heard there there is a "thermo" type de-tentioner available that will
slacken the belt as the motor warms and expands.  Any advice on
tentioners would be great!

Thanks for all the advice concerning motor swaps!  My Welty fund check
is on the way!

Jason Ball
Austin, Texas
87 Milano Silver (smokes, leaks and jiggles)
87 Milano Gold <stuck heads>
85 Subaru 4WD Wagon (A SUV that dosen't SUK)
91 Novara Arriba (21 speeds and friendly emissions)

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End of alfa-digest V7 #538
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