Suzuki Club UK

help!!
was abt to change my head gasket and noticed the book said that the rocker shaft and cam shaft had to be drawn through the rear end of the engine......does this mean i cannot remove them with the engine still in the vehicle???..or is gthere sufficent space for them to pass out??...plzz help asap!!

You can remove the head with the camshaft and all the rockers in place as access is available to all of the head bolts with just the rocker box coer removed.

This is how it is on our 410 and aI don't think it's any different on a 413.

So it's just a matter of undoing all the gubbins off the carb and the draining the coolant so you can undo the heater matrix hoses off the inlet manifold, undo all the viscous fan gibbins and the radiator, remove the cam belt, making sure all the timing marks are lined up first by turning the engine by hand fro the crank, keep it in time as much as you can, remove the cam belt and exhaust downpipe from the exhaust - plenty f WD40 before and then unbolt the head in the order the Haynes manual says and pull off the head.

The head will not come off easily and may need tapping from under the inlet or exhaust manifolds with a rubber mallet or similar and do not lever betweent he head and the block with anything as it will score them both and you'll not get the new gasket to seal. Don't let anything fall into the bores, fill with tissue or similar to catch crap.

Scrape all the old gasket of with a nice new gasket scraper from both the head and the block and pop the new gasket on before lowering the head down onto it and bolting up in order and as per Haynes Manual.

Before putting the head back on though, check it for flatness with metal rule or take it to an engine remanufacturer to check as it may need skimming - especially if overheated. The new gasket will fail otherwise.

When you put the cambelt back on, use a new one and new tensioner. A kit is less than £20.00 so do it for reliability's sake. The engine won't be damaged if the belt snaps, like other engines, but will leave you broken down.

Make sure you have a good trque wrench before tarting as you'll need it for torquing the head down!

Some people put a thin smear of grease on the gasket either side as this helps it seal as it burns off and hardens and fills any small imperfections in the head but this is an old fashioned method and I don't know how recommended it is these days. I've done it with good results but I don't want to cause you problems with it.

Hope this helps and we can all add further advice if needed.

Kirky