Changing Heads?
 

How hard is it to change heads on a 4.3? Just bolt on? I remember hearing something about saling the bolts? what all needs to be done?

Thanks,
Tommy

I think you are talking about "sealing" the bolts. This just means that when you are ready to bolt the heads on, you should put some form of sealant on the head bolts. Brown avaition sealant works well, so will just about any type of thread sealer. This is done because on Chevrolet motors, the head bolts run through the deck of the block and into the water passages in the block. If you don't seal the threads, water can run up the threads of the bolts and either leak out into the bilge, or leak into the motor. Other than that, there is really nothing tricky about swapping heads. Just make sure that the ports line up and the c.c.'s of the chambers are the same. Unless you are calculating a compression change.

And also, make sure you torque each bolt to specs (which reqiures a decent torque wrench) and in the proper sequence. If the head is aluminum, you should re-torque after the first run of the engine.

BT