<VV> Cylinder head on 1965 Monza 110

[Clark Hartzel]

I'm sure a bunch of you are wondering if you can remove the RH cylinder head
from the engine without dropping the engine down or taking it out of the
car.  The answer is yes, I did it today!
My engine had a bad blowby problem.  I took a compression test, which
confirmed all the cylinders were good except #3.  It had 60 pounds
compression.  The spark plug looked OK so it was firing but most of the
compression was going into the crankcase and up the breather and up the
dipstick tube.
I took the exhaust system off and all the sheet metal off the RH side.  I
removed all the screws on the RH side of the turkey roaster, but left the
turkey roaster in place.  I removed the coil so I could pry the tin piece
off the stud that holds the coil on.  I removed the RH carb and the tall
stud.  I noticed the tops of the spark plugs were above the bottom of the
turkey roaster so they came out also.  The only other hangup was the choke
coil rod.  Holding the hollow rod down to clear the sheet metal, I was able
to slide the head off.  I then pulled the barrel off cylinder #3.  Sure
enough, there were broken rings on the piston.
The piston and barrel looked fine so I just installed new rings on the
existing piston and popped the barrel back on backwards from the normal way
you would do it.  The head (with new gaskets)slid back on and is now torqued
down.  Tomorrow I put the valve train back on and button things up.  Should
have it running tomorrow night and will drive it to the national convention
in a few weeks.
The job sure was easier not having to take the engine out or drop it down in
the back.  I did luck out in the fact that the head came right off the
cylinders without prying or busting fins!
Also lucked out as the head nuts/rocker studs came off and back on without
pulling any block studs out!  A good day for sure!
Clark Hartzel