Hi all. New to Subarus. New here. Have benefitted greatly from the forums on HGs and from Skip's pages.

 

I'm doing the HGs on a 98 Forester with 132000 miles. Trying to leave the engine in the car. I've removed the left side head, and had difficulty getting the bolts clear so I could lift the dang thing out. I'm wondering, for those of you who have done the job in place, how difficult it is to replace the head, keeping the gasket, lifters and shims in place while maneuvering the bolts into their holes, all the while making sure that I don't knock any debris into the head or cylinder. I'd like to not have to pull the engine, but I can see how many things would be easier when I didn't have to fight the tight clearances. I suppose I can insert the lifters and shims after the head is in place, if I can keep from getting them mixed up. Also, is there a list anywhere of the various shim sizes?

 

Thanks for your help. I've managed to get this far without too much struggle, but I don't like the looks of reinstalling that head.

 

Tom Murphy

Earlville, NY

i always lift the engine out if i'm going ot remove the heads. it only takes 30 minutes more and you can reseal the whole engine at this time.

Doesn't removing head require removing camshafts to access head bolts.

When I did mine, that seemed the only way. So as far as I can tell, you have to put head back in, then lifters and shims and put the camshafts in place. When I did mine engine was out...

 

Valve shims - they come in .01 increments, you can read the shim sizes on back sometimes. You should measure your valve clearances before you remove camshafts if you want to readjust them...

The left head is quite a bit more difficult to do in the car than the right. I just removed the head with the bolts still in it, but not protruding so far as to contact the block or the inner fender. For reassembly, use two bolts in the upper corners of the head to "hang" the gasket on, then maneuver the whole thing into place, and start the two bolts to hold the head on.

 

You will have to install the lifters and cams after the head is fully torqued. I used some really thick moly assembly lube to hold the lifters and shims in place while I got the cams in. Be very careful when you remove the cams, the lifters will want to fall on the floor 4 at once. You need to very carefully dissasemble the engine. I used ziplock bags and wrote a description of the contents using a paint marker. Every last piece needs to go back where it came from.

 

I don't remember exactly what the increment is for the shims, but I know it's much smaller than 0.010". My haynes manual has a list of the shims IIRC. If you need specific numbers just ask and I will post it.

 

I will remove the engine if(when?) I do this job again.

I think bearbalu is speaking in metric. 0.01mm is 0.0004in.

 

After changing the spark plugs in my '99 Outback, I would never attempt a head gasket job with the engine in the car.

I think bearbalu is speaking in metric. 0.01mm is 0.0004in.

 

Ahh yes, you're probably correct.

 

After changing the spark plugs in my '99 Outback, I would never attempt a head gasket job with the engine in the car.

 

Where's your sense of adventure!?

Where's your sense of adventure!?

Smeared on the left frame rail, along with the skin from my knuckles

Its not too hard to yank an engine outta there if you got a cherrypicker, and an engine stand, and all the tools your going to need, and a helper that knows at least what a subaru engine looks like, not to mention all the replacement gaskets and seal your going to want to replace while you got that b**ch out of the car, but besides that its no prob, alot easier than doing an HG job on a carb'd car, label everything, god that would suck.

 

 

 

 

~Josh~

Thanks for the replies. At this point, I'm going to leave the engine in place, unless I can't get the left head in place. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Another question: The Service Manual calls for using "Liquid Packing" in several places, such as the cam cap mating surfaces. Can anybody tell me what this stuff is or what I should use in its place?

 

Thanks, Tom

You want to use assembly lube on the cam journals, lobes, lifters, and shims.

"Liquid packing" is the sealant - Permatex Ultra-Grey recommended by Subaru. In some places manual calls for just oil lube, in other places like cam journals, engine assembly lube as 990bw pointed out.