Need advice on changing the head gaskets on my 427
 

Okay, the cobra is finally registered and now it has coolant coming out of a side pipe. I have pulled the intake and taken the nuts off the head studs but can not get the the heads off the motor - the foot boxes are in the way. I have tried to take the nuts off the motor mounts and jack up the motor bu the scatter shield hits the firewall before I can get enough clearance. Will disconnecting the tranny from the motor and then jacking the motor up give me enough clearance? It is in a csx 4000 Shelby. I REALLY don't want to have to pull the motor out of the car. Thanks.
John(;-)

It seems that the easiest way is to remove the studs with head in place and then remove the head. Use two nuts on the studs and take them out.Good luck.

Exactly what I was going to say. That's how I do it.

I have to do that on my ERA as well, double nut the head studs and pull 'em, then the head gets 'just enough' clearance.

Not sure if there is enough stud exposed
 

Thanks guys. I will go out to the garage and see if I can get two nuts on the lower studs. I am just not sure that I have enough clearance and thread exposed. I'll keep everyone updated.
John(;-)

double nutting worked.
 

Even though I had to use a jam nut and one of the arp nuts, It was still a bear to get them off. I ended up taking the top ones off, jack, rotating the motor and wrestling the heads off and then pulling the bottom studs once I had clearance. I have new ARP BOLTS coming from Summit and should be here monday. Next Saturday will be putting it back together day. Wish me luck.
John(;-)

that is why we used head bolts on the last ERA we did. --studs are great but in these cars foot boxes are a bummer.

I have a feeling it is more than a head gasket. (i hope it s not).

Heads studs on an FE
 

last month I spend about 5 hours removing the studs on one head of a 427 in a Unique. Double nut got all but three of the studs. I wedged the head up and used channel locks to remove two of the studs before I could get the head off. :(
What a pain

Pulled the motor and took it to Keith Craft, I let him remove the other head:)
Dwight

In the future,
 

Guys in the future, there are a couple of choices for removing the studs. They make a socket that pinches the top of the stud and removes it. You can also get the bottom ones with this socket. Snap-on and Matco sell them. If you can't get the stud remover from them, you can lift the head in the car, put a 2X4 between the head and block. Get a new pair of vise grips and remove them that way. It's not pretty but works. Make sure they don't slip on the stud. If you are worried about damage to the studs, get new studs from ARP. The new ones on some applications have allen head tops for installing. I have done this twice with the motor in the car. I thought that the head gaskets where on wrong and wanted to check them.%/ They where right. Rick L.

What happened >?

more
 

Keith is going to install a stroker kit and do his magic. We should end up with 482 plus cubes and 625 - 650 HP. We should get the motor back late July.

Dwight

I have a spf 427 what I did was javk the motor up after I cut motor supports loose shift motor as far as you can, then put a brick or whatever you can get under the motor support on the head your going to take off then let the motor down this will twist the motor up enought for you to get to the bottom studs worked for me, good luck

guess who is getting a whole new motor :)/ :( ????
 

Got it all together - took it to the gas station to fill it, got back in, large cloud of steam out of the same (driver's side) side pipe. Got it home - parked it, let it cool, restarted it - coolant coming out of the side pipe. Got help from a friend getting it out. # 7 had been chamfered into he water jacket. I could re-sleeve it, but I would rather start fresh. It took more than a month to get the genesis block from the supplier and I am still waiting for the rods, crank and pistons because another supplier sent the wrong ones and then had new ones made up after they were told to wait until we had the block in our hands because too many things had been screwed up already. I am going to have a large bore short stroke hydraulic roller 490 over square fe with a second generation genesis block. I don't EVER want to have to take this motor out of my cobra. I also got a letter from dmv telling me that they were going to cancel my registration (which is an sb100) because I had not insured the car. Luckily a "statment of fact" that the car is parked and not on a public road has made it so that it is just non-op for now. Wish me luck.
John(;-)
P.S. Just to give you an idea of my car karma, my 08 shelby gt mustang got bit on the nose by a tire (>$2,000 damage) whhile this was all going on and is in the body shop.

Why not get a shelby block for a Shelby car?
 

John I sent you info a couple of months ago about putting a shelby block in your car. The other thing is to take that block and send it out for a sleeve job to Gessford. Both KCR and Barry R. from Survivialmotor sports have stoker kits complete crank, rods, bearing, pistons, and balance of the assembly for $2,400.00 dollars. This is a cast crank but have found out that there is a steel crank with a 4.375 stroker for $700.00 just needs final polish and finish to balance for your assembly. Rick L.