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Message: [QUOTE="Krause, post: 1174440, member: 331"] Here goes an update before I fall behind on the pics. The box from riffraff shows up on Friday, after that, progress should be fast and furious. Anyways, I've slogged through perhaps the slowest and most frustrating aspect of all this. Ive been cleaning for a week essentially. These will serve as a rough before hand baseline set of photos.. [ATTACH=full]149099[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]149100[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]149101[/ATTACH] Then I went and plucked out the valve train components. This is my first time getting into any of this, a good friend of mine said these really should be put back into their original location. [ATTACH=full]149102[/ATTACH] And injectors came out. These got sent off and are on their way back now! Came out really nicely, this is a veggi oil truck so I had to send them in to make sure they could be used for a build, but they checked out alright and was told they looked really good, so very happy with that. [ATTACH=full]149103[/ATTACH] There she is getting stripped down slowly. [ATTACH=full]149104[/ATTACH] (PS, the BEST 14.99 ive spent on this project was a bag of microfiber towels from Costco. At first I was hesitant to use them, but when I realized there is like 40 of them in the bag, I started grabbing a new one for every job (AKA every injector when I shipped them). Pretty sure it has saved me money vs blasting through rolls of paper towel that rip and fiber up everywhere). Next came the headstuds. [ATTACH=full]149105[/ATTACH] ^Thats a really expensive layout of bolts :(. Its kinda ludicrous when you lay them out like that and realize they cost more than half a G. Anyways, the ARP's come with generous sample packs of the torque lube stuff you are supposed to use now, it's very messy, use gloves (or put finger prints all over your girlfriends house for a few hours after completing job, even after washing your hands... ask me how I know). The torque spec from FORD a final torque of 95 FT/LB's. This is done through 3 stages, and the final stage uses a different pattern than the first two. (These patterns can be found online easily enough, and the instructions from ARP include both of them as well). How I opted to do it after reading up some: [B]1. [/B] I replaced each bolt one at a time following the pattern used in stages 1/2 (its a center-out theme), and torqued to the factory spec of 95 FT/Lbs. This will hold the head on just as tight as they ever were. [B]2[/B]. The final Torque spec for ARP is 125 Ft/Lbs. So after I had done each one of the 18 studs described in 1, I went through and torqued to 125 Ft/LBs using the [B]2nd[/B] torquing pattern (this is a bottom to top in rows theme). [B]3.[/B] After that, I waited 24 hours for things to settle and set (remember the gasket has never been this tight at this point). Then I set my torque wrench to 127 Ft/Lbs and re torqued according to step 2. I pretty much didnt get any movement on this step, just a couple bolts moved a pubic hair. Repeat for the other head, and you are done. This isnt a 45 minute job, at least it wasnt for me. I wanted to make sure each thread/washer had enough torque lube and I wasnt missing a bolt/rushing, so it probly took 2.5 hours per head. That said, honestly guys, if this head gasket ever has a problem, wow... I dont know what I would do, buy a chevy?. 125 is TIGHT, and there is headstud every 3 inches or less it seams in every direction. 18 bolts is a lot of clamping power... Here they are, you'll need a 12pt socket to install. Not that glamorous but look carefully, they are in there. [ATTACH=full]149106[/ATTACH] After that, it was cleaning time, and boy did I clean. I'll shamelessly admit, that I eventually sacrificed a spare head for my Sonicare Electric toothbrush to assist in cleaning the nooks and crannies around the engine :-X21. The Girlfriend wasnt too pleased I was using a 150 dollar toothbrush to clean, but not too mad. She even helped a bit one night ! [ATTACH=full]149107[/ATTACH] Got the oil cooler separated, thanks for the help on that, I beat it with a rubber mallet and it came apart. [ATTACH=full]149108[/ATTACH] And after several nights of degreaser, wire wheeling, purple power, repeat, etc etc... This is the one picture I seem to have of it cleaned up before any paint went on it. [ATTACH=full]149109[/ATTACH] I used a DA sander to rough up areas I had access too as well. Any paint that was still around essentially survived a knotted wire wheel, a DA sander, or me sanding with a foam block, so I felt alright painting over what was left. I dont think it will last, but oh well, better than it was. I wasnt bringing this thing down to the bare block, so I did the best I could. [/QUOTE]