So Im basically doing a friend of mines headgasket job on his blazer and have been following the instructions here.
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t892880.html

Right now I have the drivers side manifold unbolted from the head and the rockers arms, rods, nuts all from the drivers side head out and labeled accordingly. both valve covers off obviously, and I realized that I need to get my jack stands to get this car up with the wheel off so I can get at the downpipe/downtube nuts and bolts to move those to allow me to get at the head bolts under the manifold.

I sprayed as much PB blaster on them as I could seeing as I really didnt have a clear shot at them, are there any good tricks to this besides the breaker bar tip to get at these?

Also, when I pulled the distributor rotor, I marked the manifold, rotor and where it sat in the housing but noticed that it was under some sort of spring pressure and rotated when I pulled it out about 15-20 degrees. As long as when I replace this I line up the marks I made, all will be well? Do I have any degree for error? or is the degree for error being -1 or +1 tooth on the bottom of that shaft?

I unbolted some type of water pipe that seems to come off the driver side manifold at the very front. There was a gasket in between the flange and manifold and Im sure I'll need a new one that wont come in the head gasket kit.... What are they?

A frigging mouse had a massive nest between the manifold and rotor, and pulling the manifold resulted in some of this crap falling into the galleys below. I got as much as that crap out as I could and had my friend get what he could with a shop vac. Will the follow up oil fill/flush take care of this or can I expect most of this stuff to be attached to the screen on the oil pump pickup tube after the startup?

I dont even own a blazer anymore, how did I get in this mess! :lol:

 

As long as the distributor lines up properly when you drop it back down, you'll be set. The gear on the bottom of the distributor has some twist to the teeth. That is the reason why the rotor rotated when you lifted it out. I like to mark where it is when fully seated and then again once removed. It just makes it easier to drop back in. The level of error is +/- 1 tooth.

The gasket at the front sounds like the AIR (air injection reaction) pipe feed into the driver side exhaust manifold.

As far as the junk down in the pan, flush it with some cheap fresh oil with the drain plug removed. You should be able to get most of it out.

 

is there any tip to getting the three nuts off the exhaust manifold studs. I have the blazer on jackstands with the wheels off and I can get at the lowest one, but Im struggling trying to get the upper ones off without rounding the nuts.

They're rusted to **** so thats not helping. They've been soaked in PB blaster to ease in their loosening but it really hasn't helped much. My buddy whos a mechanic said to heat them, which Im going to try, but these things are really being stubborn.

i have regular sockets, deep sockets, elbows, extensions, and breaker bars. of these what do you guys use that you find works best on getting these off?

The drivers side has the u-joint in the way from the prop shaft so that screws up my attempts at using a breaker bar on the inside nut on those, the outside nut of both sides is accessible. As far as the top goes, I dont have a frigging clue how Im going to get at it except by a miracle through the wheel well and not from underneath.

 

anyone got any helpful tips for removing the three nuts off the exhaust manifold studs, or how to get at them anyway?

I looked up the catalytic converter post and couldn't find much.

 

Long extensions with a swivel socket or wobble extension on the end. If they are rusted bad, you may need to heat them.

 

yea, I heated that crap out of them, and all but one came off. It appears to be rounded...possibly from the heat. They were extremely rusty. It appears im going to have to cut this with a dremel if the bolt out wont take this off.