I am doing my first head gasket job ever on an ea82 SPFI from a 91 loyale 3AT. The problem I have run into is how to remove the gasketmaterial. it seems to be burnt on the block around some of the bolt holes. I have tried a razor blade gasket remover (carefully), engine degreaser and a sharpened putty knife all to no avail. I am worried about ruining the aluminum block and have run out of ideas. I am hesitant to use sand paper or something like that but I am about out of options. :confused:Thanks for all the helpful posts up to this point that have kept me fro completely ruining the job by being over zealous with the razor or something.

3M Roloc Zip Discs work great, they are what we use at work, you should be able to get one and an arbor from an auto parts store, an air die grinder works best, but if you don't have air, you can chuck the arbor into a drill and use that. You will need the yellow disc. This is what they look like (The price shown is for a pack of 10, you should be able to buy just one from a parts store though)

 

http://www.shop3m.com/61500132180.html?WT.z_xsell=1&WT.z_refSKU=61500129822

 

You can also use a regular razor blade, hold the razor blade perpendicular to the block surface and scrape back and forth, that works pretty well. Don't use sandpaper as you might scratch the block to where it won't seal properly. You will also need to get the cam tower O rings from your local Subaru dealership, if you haven't already.

I use those green Scotch Brite Pads and gently go over the surfaces to dress it up and vacuum the area well to remove any remaining fiber/abrasives.

 

On a later post it said it wasn't a good idea to use these as it leaves abrasives behind ... so not sure what the mechanics do... I figure clean up the surface, remove residue and there you go... seemed to work for me.

 

my .o2 cents..

 

UPDATE: SEE "HONDA SUCKS" POST ABOVE! WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I WAS DOING MY HEADS?

 

I am going to get me a set of those.

Edited April 25, 200916 yr by Indrid cold

the yellow discs are the way to go. this is the worst part of doing a head gasket job. that being said, some of the first ones i did were with a wire wheel brush on a drill because i didn't know how to get it off and didn't know about these discs then. not a good thing to use at all, but none ever had problems and two of them are still running after 5+ years.

OK sounds like the yellow 3m pad its the way to go. Thanks for all the help I will let you guys know how it turns out.

awesome, they are nice.

 

if you're doing this in the car and are using a drill, get a right angle attachment for the drill. harbor freight probably has china specials for $2, but their shipping is often horrendous for me, like weeks.

 

while you're waiting on that tool you might want to consider Fel-Pro permatorque gaskets if that's not what you have. All others require retorquing on this engine and these have a great reputation for this motor. Most of "us", speaking of this community, use those gaskets and up the final torque value a bit.

Edited April 27, 200916 yr by grossgary

I don't have the permatorque, I have the OEM gasket. I have been told that I don't need to retorque it if I up the torque by about 5lbs. granted my source is not always reliable, but that is what I was going to do. Since I already have the gaskets I am going to use them, but do you really think I need to retorque them? Thanks