Head gasket installation

[wouter86]

Hi guys, it`s been a while but i`m back after a busy period.Now I am very busy again,with my MR2 mark I .

A month ago the head gasket popped so I started disassembling the belt,manifolds and cilinder head.The head is now shimmed and all parts looked pretty ok for 200.000 kilometers.Last week i was gathering stuff to put everything back together (gaskets,tools).

Today I tried to put everything back together but something went wrong.Preparations were all done,oiling the bolts,cleaning the surface and so on.I put the head gasket on the block,put the cilinder head on the gasket,put in the bolts (long ones on exhaust side,short ones on intake side)and set them all on 29 Nm in the right order.Next step said i should turn all bolts 90 degrees clockwise.OK done.Now it said i had to turn them another 90 degrees.

Thats when the s... hit the fan.My tool snapped.after some (long) moments of swearing i thought i should post the question of how other people handled this problem.

I used a 10mm 1/4 inch socket (the only thing that fitted in the head),on top of that was a socket that turned the 1/4 into a 3/8,and on that was a socket which turned the 3/8 into a 1/2 inch socket so i could use a torque wrench with a 1/2 inch connection.

I read about sst´s somewhere,should i buy one of those or are there other ways of mounting my cilinder head back?I disassembled everything again, Is it recommended to throw the new head gasket i used away and buy a new one?

I hope i can drive it soon again because the car i drive in now has a horrible handling,is slow and looks crappy.really missing my mr2,and my ae86 even more