First let me start off with WOW this site is awesome. I have spent hours researching on here and plan to be on here alot after I dive into my Camaro. I am picking up my FIRST! Camaro tommorrow and im super excited. Itsa 1997 3.8 30 year anniversary edition...white..red/black interior, 130,000 miles.....body and everything else good shape and tranny works but the guy said the head gasket is blown. Im buying this car for $650! Well im wanting to do this myself as I think I would have much more pride doing it than dropping off at mechanic...which I can get a deal through a buddy for about $700-900 for this repair..everywhere else wanted $1200-1500 for repair. So anyway heres my list of unanswered questions I would appreciate any info and thanks in advance.
1. I heard the motor has to be dropped from the bottom to gain access since engine is tucked back in the car. Is this true?
2. I understand I will need the whole gasket set, along with new bolts, and take heads to shop to be checked....should i go ahead and pay them to resurface anyways? or port and polish like ive heard other say?
3. Anyother parts should be replaced like find the original problem..such as water pump? Im assuming something made this car overheat?
4. If there is water in the oil...how do I get it out and what other steps should be taken?
5. Any specialized tools I may need other than the basics...im assuming ill need a torque wrench?
6. How long should this take me?
7. Should I drink the beer after or during job? LOL

Thanks in advance to any help...I greatly appreciate it. Im gonna look this thing over one more time tommorrow before I put cash in hand...but I think its a good deal.

 

Wow so many questions. I concur on how great this site is for Camaro owners. Let's get to your questions.

1. It doesn't have to be dropped in order to do a head gasket but if you did drop it, it would make your life a lot easier. It is a bit of a ***** getting the intake plenum out. It's not impossible but wear a tight long sleeved shirt otherwise your arms will get chewed up from the cowl over the engine. If you can deal with that then yes you can do it without dropping the engine. Test to see if you can reach the bolts with a wrench in your hand. That'll let you know if it's realistic for you personally to attempt it. Some guys with huge forearms may have more difficulty. It's a tight squeeze that's for sure but it can be done.
2. Absolutely yes. After you get into this project you won't want to do it again for a long time so absolutely pull the heads and take them in to be inspected and cleaned.
3. The overheat was caused by your gasket leak or a cracked head most likely so start with the head gasket and if it still overheats then you've got to check out the other parts but for right now, odds are, unless it was run without coolant, your water pump is fine.
4. The last thing you do after you do any "open heart" type surgery on your motor is an oil flush. I dump 2-3 quarts through the system and drain it and change your filter after the flush.
5. Metric wrenches, Metric socket set. Get a set of stubby wrenches too, again metric there will be no question as to why when you get into this thing. Torque wrench, A good gasket scraper. Gasket disolving spray, full set of gaskets. head bolts. GM PVC sealant for the head bolts. Black RTV sealant. If you're lucky none of your exhaust manifold bolts will be rusted beyond reuse but be prepared to replace those too. The ones that connect to the Y-Pipe can be particularly problematic. Hit them with penetrating oil the night before you try this. Get yourself a Haynes manual and or a chilton manual for this car. Enough oil to flush and change the oil. New Oil filter. New antifreeze. Containers for your old oil and anti-freeze. Masking tape to label all your wires and hoses. Digital camera to photograph each step as you accomplish it(this way you can go back and verify what wire/hose/part goes where), this is a nice to have of course.
6. It really depends on your skill level and how lucky you get when you start this in terms of parts coming out easily. That said if you know what you're doing and you get lucky it'll take probably around 4-6 hours. If you're light on experience but have a lot of determination and patience it'll take upwards of 12-15 hours. That's taking into account time to look up procedures and plotting the death of the engineers who thought it would be a smart idea to half bury the engine under the cowl. HA! Ha!
7. I'd say after you'll just get too hammered before you even have it completely apart. Ha! Ha!
8. One last tip make absolutely sure the Head and block are stone cold before you start taking it apart. The head and the block expand at different rates so if you do it while it's warm it increases the chance for warping dramatically. So let the car sit in the garage overnight before you start.

So to sum up it's not an impossible task but it's also not an easy one especially if you don't have a lot of experience. What you'll need to weigh in choosing whether or not to attempt this yourself is how much are all the tools going to cost you, how much is your time worth. Is the combination of the cost of tools and your time greater than it would be for a mechanic to do it? Regardless of what you do, best of luck in this repair! You're getting the car at a SAweet price and you'll reall

 

Tom, you make it a lot harder sounding than it really is. I just rebuilt my engine (myself.) 3.8 99camaro. There is no need to remove the engine. Gonna give you (not Tom inparticular) a little advise. I pulled the engine outta the top of the car. One of the most useless pieces on that G.D 3.8 are those manifold heat deflectors. Get them the F outta there. After that, many things become eaiser. Such as removing the manifolds/changing plugs.... Another thing I learned. The manifolds bolts. The 3rd from the back on both sides,the one that is behind the O2sensors. When you do finally gettheexhaust manifoldsoff, cut the stud off behind the nut. Trust me, come install time, you will be thanking me for it.

Oh ya. Tom, that cowl, its a *****. What I did was take some old heater hose, slice it legnth wise and cover the entire thing just for the sake of giving blood.

Ok, so remove the p/s pump, smog pump, injector harness, fuel rail (including the injectors)the vac lines on the passanger side of theupper intake. Just take the sensor off first. There are two hex screws holding it in. After all the crap is removedon top of the intake,wireharness...the upper intake is simple. I had enough room to use my air wrachet. First breaking them loose with a wrench or scocket. You dont wanna strip the threads out, there aluminum. Dont forget the power brake boostervac line. All you need for tools are 8mm-10mm-13mm-14mm-15mmand I think the head bolts are 9/16ths.

Do yourself a favor. go down to your local librarys refrence section. They should have the Chiltons manuals on hand. You probably cant take them out, so photo copy the entire section on your car. Its like 50 pages. @ .10 a copy, its cheaper than a useless Hayes manual.

Dont be shocked by how much $$$ the gasket sets are gonna cost you. They are expensive.The head bolts are like $25. for the set. This may also be a good time to do plugs and wires. If your gonna do it, do it right the first time. Dont skimp on $$$. If you donthave the $$ wait till you do, you really dont wanna be fixing this thing later, kicking your self in the @$$ for cheaping out. ANy ???'s feel free to contact me.

 

Ok I got her home....And unbelievably I got her for $500. She needs some TLC but for the price I cant see how I can go wrong. The kid didnt appear that he could change his own oil. He stated it started to overheat and drive crappy so he took it to a mechanic and the mechanic said the heads are blown. The kids dad said that he remembers a friend looking at it and saw water blowing out the side of engine???? Possibly cracked block? I gotta get a new battery so I can turn it over and see what she does...the cars been sitting for about 8-10 months and rust has developed on the brake rotors and engine pulleys...the car also came from Florida...so I guess the salt didnt help........So how would I know wether the block is cracked or its just the heads? Whats better the Haynes or Chilton Manual? Any certain brand better than the other for the heads gasket set or auto part store to buy from??

Thanks for all the help I will be printing all this out and using it while I try to do this. When I look at the engine its a little intimidating though. Especially when I see how far back the dang thing goes behind the wall!!

 

You can do a pressure test, where you force pressure through the radiator to find any place where there is pressure escaping. If it is shooting water out the side of the block, it may be a freeze plug. If thats the caes, you need to pull the engine out to get to them. Unless your really good, still, I dont think you can get to them. Second, go with a good head gasket manufacturer like fel-pro. You may be better off buying a used engine or rebuilt engine. Sounds as if you are not that expirenced in mechanics, at least enough to tackle this. If this isnt your primary mode of transport, its a great project to learn from.

 

Can we get pictures of your car and or the problems?

 

what the hell is that gonna solve?

 

Ok your not gonna believe this....I cant find any water in the oil......I took the radiator cap off when it was cool and started it up....no fountain or push out...The thing drives like there is no problems......Maybe the seller was told it was a blown head gasket by a rip-off mechanic???

 

lol mine use to overheat real bad but i put a fan switch in the car so when it started to overheat from slow driving i flick the switch and all has been good for 2 years now lol

 

good luck.