This morning was one of those rare days when I achieved what I set out to do. Just! So, the head was looking like this, as left yesterday.

I got prepared first of all, gathered some egg boxes to store the followers in and made a diagram (obviously, highly technical) on the box I’d poke the valves into.

The labelling of the cam bearing caps is the same as is actually on them which should help me install them the right way round in case I forget.

With everything ready I set about removing the intake cam. Unbolting the cap bolts had to be done in a spiral as per other head bolts. This was half a turn in round one, then a whole turn, then remove the bolts. Everything was bagged and labelled up. Once unbolted, the bearing caps themselves were a little stiff but not too difficult to remove. You need to resist the temptation to wedge something in the face of them and lever them off. Instead, a few gentle taps with a soft faced hammer will loosen them enough to be rocked off. Same from the front one, just takes longer because it is also attached to the oil seal and could still have some sealant left on it from the rocker cover.

The surfaces looked in very good condition, which was lucky as I don’t know a massive amount about the history of the engine.

With the cams removed, I could turn my attention to the followers.

They’re not quite ‘liftable’ out by squeezing them between your fingers, but helpfully can be picked up by one of those magnetic things you use for retrieving lost screws. These are numbered and placed into their new egg box homes.

With that side done, it was time for the exhaust side. This was much the same as before, but I managed to slice the tip of my finger whilst removing one of the bearing cap bolts. Oops! Annoyingly it was one of those not-painful-but-really-bleedy ones and indeed is still bleeding a bit now nearly two hours in.

So, next up, removing the valves. All been relatively simple  so maybe this will be a complicated bit.