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Here's is a quick pictorial walk through how to make your own head removal tool and use it to remove the cylinder head on any 105/116 norde engine.

The components of the puller are.

10mm steel plate
4x10mm high tensile bolt, nuts & washers
4x spark plug thread bases

The post is in two parts because the maximum photo uptake for one posting is 5 photos.

PART 1

PART 2

Balance of sequence.

wow, you are a brave boy...

That's true Mats. It's why my mother loves me...

Ok MD you're busted, is that a 260Z lurking in the back of you're garage?

I thought jap cars got parked on the street!

nice work with the head removal tool

Geez Matt, give you guys a little sniff and you're on it like chicken into hot sheit. Don't need much of a squizz either by the look of it.

Yeah, ok I gotta come clean. Its a Zed machine getting new valve guides fitted. It has been really nicely put together by the owner but it was behaving erratically on the dyno so it is getting a bit of a refresher to sort it out.

The head puller(gotta be carefull how you say that) makes the job of cylinder head removal almost a cakewalk. It presumes you have the necessary common sense and skill to use it and not go ape and damage the head in the process. Has never let me down yet.

MD, Interesting device, forgive my stupidity (I can be very stupid sometimes! ) but I'm not quite seeing what it pulls "against" to split the head from the block.

It looks like the plate lays across the top of the head between the cam carriers and that the pullers bolted in the plug holes would just stress or warp the head a litttle ??? Surely not? I must be seeing it wrong ?

Do the head/block studs protrude enough that the plate sits on THEM rather than the head casting? This is what I'd presume for the devise to make sense, but I just can't quite see that in the photo...

Steve ( possibly )

Head studs...

mats

Thanks for helping out.

Steve R

Sorry Steve that I have taken so long to get back to you. Not a stupid question at all. I have never taken your posts lightly. In fact you area the sharp one here because you back tracked to the core matter and found it not there! The reason is that in the initial photo where it shows the location to insert the pulling bolt, the head studs are below the level of the "deck" so this would make you think that this is where they normally would be. However, the photo was taken after the head was already lifted off the block so that places the head bolts below.

The reason for this is that I decided to make a contribution to the forum by taking the photos of the tool in action half way through the job. Better than nothing I reasoned.

When you first remove the nuts securing the head, all the studs are proud about 12mm or so and the plate pushes against them and therefore pulls the head away from the block.

Hope that makes better sense now.

Thanks MD, makes perfect sense now!

I just couldn't "see" what the device pulled against, and now I understand why. Thanks for the clarification and BTW - that's a very useful tool by the look of it.

regards
S

MD wrote:mats


When you first remove the nuts securing the head, all the studs are proud about 12mm or so and the plate pushes against them and therefore pulls the head away from the block.

The factory tool fits on just one cylinder and has dimples machined in where each stud fits against the plate. I was taught to put the head nuts back on loosely before using the tool so the studs aren't marred. I think the factory tool "spindle" may require that. Be sure to tighten the spark plug end of the spindle snug into the plug bores so there won't be any bad loads on the plug threads. I've never had any problems with the single cylinder factory tool, though I have had to move it front to back to carefully free a really stuck head. But more important, I don't think I've ever found a warped head that was correctly removed in all of the years I have had my Alfa repair shop. I am convinced that the primary cause of warped Alfa heads is prying on removal!!

--Carter

Ehhhh....

have I done something wrong?
I always just grabbed the head (cylinder - not mine with my hands and lifted it off.

Exactly, sometimes it needs a whack or two with a rubber mallet but after that you just lift it.

Yeah Micke, but not everyone has muscles in their shit like you do! Ha ha.

Hahah! Yeah MD thats good! I seen those Scandinavian guys on TV in those clever and intellectually delicate...tree stump throwing contests!! How difficult can pulling a seized Alfa head be after that!!?? Hell, if they do THAT for fun, what do they do when they're pi$$ed off??
(I just HAD to butt-in!)
Jim K.