legacycentral bbs

This is probably a dumb question, but I'm going to start tearing apart my first motor.

What socket do you use to get the head bolts off? They look like they're some star pattern.

Help?

Use a regular 12-point socket. 14mm, I believe.

That's correct.

Yup. 12-point 14mm.

I thought it would be a bit larger, but it's just a 14mm.

And a pipe on the wrench handle

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Exactly what Frank said... Just a breaker bar alone will not give you enough leverage to move them. The bolts will make some funky creeking noises, but don't worry about it. Just continue to work them loose a tug at a time.

I hope you have the engine in the car - popping them on a stand is an aggravating exercise.

I did my work on a heavy duty engine stand. I really wasn't that bad once I added the piece of tubing to the end of the breaker bar. On the stand I had much more leverage to work on the heads & the head bolts.

Yeah I did mine on a stand as well. They do make some funky noises, but they come out.

How did you keep the stand on the ground? I had a hell of a gymnastics routine trying to hold it down by standing on it while contorting myself to reach the pipe. Finally several minutes with an 18V impact loosened them enough for me to wrangle them off.

The engine stand was setup with the legs/caster wheels in an H pattern to allow for better stability.

It looks like this: |---|

Hahaha my method was a little different, because my shortblock was trashed and I was just trying to get the heads off.

I removed the intake manifold and stood on the block (with the engine out of my car) and just used a giant breaker bar. Haha.