Tips and advice for replacing head gasket.

[NeilBey]

So I'm pretty sure I've popped my HG cherry finally - I smell and see exhaust fumes coming out of my radiator fill neck and I am constantly boiling over coolant.

I'm going to do the head bolts, timing belt and water pump at the same time I do the HG. I will be buying the ITM gasket kit (because it's inexpensive and I've heard good things so far) - bear in mind my MSP is not for performance applications, just a fun DD.

I wanted to see if I could get some advice from the Mazda Gods on this forum.

1) Should I go with ARP head studs, or can I stick with another lesser brand/stock (this is not a high performance vehicle)
2) Is there anything else I should be replacing while I have the head off?
3) Can I do this job with a 6 pack of beer in me?
4) I've seen somewhere on this forum about someone leaving the intake manifold in the engine bay - is this a feasible option with our cars?
5) What is the approximate cost to have the head checked out and milled down?

Any other useful bits of info would be greatly appreciated. I can't really afford to pay a guy to do this for me, nor am I made of money to buy the most expensive sh*t in the world - it's only a car after all. I have good mechanical experience and knowledge (I've owned and restored a few classic Z cars before and even replaced my transmission in a apartment parking lot on my MSP - by myself).

 

[hornsfan10609]

1. I used DNJ rockauto headbolts, they were $40 instead of over $200 for OEM or ~$150 or so for ARP. Haven't had any issues with the cheaper bolts, would have used ARP if I had the money but wasn't worth it at the time.
2. replace the water pump if you do the timing belt, otherwise just clean out the intake manifold as much as possible. I deleted the VTCS flaps in the intake when I did my HG.
3. that is your decision to make, it will most likely be a 2-day weekend project
4. you can leave the IM in the bay but I removed the head and IM together since cleaning the old gasket off the IM and head is a PITA.
5. I paid about $30 IIRC to have a broken bolt removed and re-tapped and the head milled true.
I recommend copper gasket spray, I used it on all the gaskets including the HG and it has help up to 15-16psi spikes no problem. Also check out the head bolt torquing specs if you haven't yet, you must follow the procedure.

 

[NeilBey]

That's some great info. I'll definitely be following the online FSM (I think it's that one from floptical.net). Does anybody know if the torque specs will be different between the N/A models and the Mazdaspeed models?

Any one used the Beck Arnley Head bolts before?

 

[callphy]

I just use 20$ studs for my exhaust manifold. Brought it from napa Canada. I only rev to 3.5k rpm usually. So I am not very worry about leak. Gonna get some better grade studs if I ever planning on getting it on the track. But I think it won't happen. At least for the following couple years.

 

[hornsfan10609]

Never used beck-arnley but they will probably work, torque specs will be the same.