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Old 06-03-2013, 04:03 PM
v8volvo v8volvo is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Montana, USA
Vehicle: '86 745, '83 764
Posts: 1,627
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Congrats and welcome to the forum. Looks like a project! Has it been sitting for a while? Runner or no?

Looks like it could be made nice again. Silver over black leather in a wagon with manual trans is a sweet setup.

Where are you located? We like members to post their location in their profile info so that others might be able to offer help with tools, manuals, parts etc that can otherwise be hard to find.

Headgasket is a complex job on one of these but gives you a good opportunity to do a lot of other important maintenance at the same time while saving on labor. It's a great chance to do timing belts, any other seals that are questionable, valve adjustment, injection system and glow system work, etc since you have to dig into all of those areas as part of the job. The headgasket can be a weak point on these motors, especially if the cooling system is marginal, but it can be strengthened with head studs and/or updated MLS gasket that make it much less predisposed towards failure. It's important to make sure that the cooling system is healthy after doing this job since these motors really do not like getting hot, even a little bit. If there are any parts in there (rad, hoses, t-stat, etc) that are questionable, definitely plan on replacing those before they cause you headaches down the road!

You'll want to make sure to use the right special tools and methods that are required for choosing the right thickness headgasket, properly torquing the crank dampener bolt, setting cam and injection timing, etc while doing the head and timing belt installations. There is extensive info posted on the forum about this and members on here will be happy to help out with any questions.

Glad to have you aboard!
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