I won't complain anymore

[mike7570]

About working on or installing headers on a FE in a '67 - '70 mustang ever again!
I sit here typing and I'm looking at the cuts and scratches all over my hands and arms. I spent 2 1/2 days getting the heads off my sons car (he helped) because it has a head gasket failure and taking it in just cost too much and "I can do it"  well at least I think I can, it's not done yet.
I worked on the kids other cars, Kia (POS) and a Honda (Ok) but this new one he is driving has to be the worst.  Have you all ever changed head gaskets on a 2000 Camaro? (and his is only a V6.) The preferred method is to drop the entire engine and trans out from underneath with the K member and lift the car off of it. Well with no lift and only one good floor jack that was not going to happen. Besides I didn't want to take off and reinstall the brake lines, power steering lines, steering column and AC.  Did you know 3/4 of that little engine is behind the leading edge of the windshield? And there is no way GM thought about anyone needing to work on these POS's.   
Give me an old FE anytime I hate these newer cars.

[turbohunter]

100% agree.
Good luck.

[482supersnake]

I used to laugh we people would complain about installing headers on the new S550 Mustangs. I told myself that I had installed headers on big block Cougars and Comets and it couldn't be that hard. That was until I climbed  under my GT350 and tried to tighten the headers bolts. I'm glad the previous owner paid someone else to do the job.

[chris401]

About working on or installing headers on a FE in a '67 - '70 mustang ever again!
I sit here typing and I'm looking at the cuts and scratches all over my hands and arms. I spent 2 1/2 days getting the heads off my sons car (he helped) because it has a head gasket failure and taking it in just cost too much and "I can do it"  well at least I think I can, it's not done yet.
I worked on the kids other cars, Kia (POS) and a Honda (Ok) but this new one he is driving has to be the worst.  Have you all ever changed head gaskets on a 2000 Camaro? (and his is only a V6.) The preferred method is to drop the entire engine and trans out from underneath with the K member and lift the car off of it. Well with no lift and only one good floor jack that was not going to happen. Besides I didn't want to take off and reinstall the brake lines, power steering lines, steering column and AC.  Did you know 3/4 of that little engine is behind the leading edge of the windshield? And there is no way GM thought about anyone needing to work on these POS's.   
Give me an old FE anytime I hate these newer cars.

The head bolts over 1 and 2 are easy to get to without taking the car in half. What's the problem? Mitchell 2009 Labor Guide:

[chris401]

At least you get a break on the heater core. Those are typically the bigger jobs.

[Falcon67]

Same deal with Ford trucks, 4.6 Mustangs, etc.  Unless you like pain, you figure out how to get the body up off the frame or K-member. 

[Stangman]

The 3.1 3.4 and 3.8s werent bad you could beat those times by 3 hours easy. I didnt like doing the 3.4 DOHC motors.

[FrozenMerc]

These things aren't designed for service and repair to be easy.  They are designed for assembly - as quickly, easily, and cheaply as possible.  A couple more hours of labor on the dealer / mechanic side is worth far less to GM / Ford / Toyota / etc, then a few minutes saved and less chance for mistakes on the assembly line.

[mike7570]

About working on or installing headers on a FE in a '67 - '70 mustang ever again!
I sit here typing and I'm looking at the cuts and scratches all over my hands and arms. I spent 2 1/2 days getting the heads off my sons car (he helped) because it has a head gasket failure and taking it in just cost too much and "I can do it"  well at least I think I can, it's not done yet.
I worked on the kids other cars, Kia (POS) and a Honda (Ok) but this new one he is driving has to be the worst.  Have you all ever changed head gaskets on a 2000 Camaro? (and his is only a V6.) The preferred method is to drop the entire engine and trans out from underneath with the K member and lift the car off of it. Well with no lift and only one good floor jack that was not going to happen. Besides I didn't want to take off and reinstall the brake lines, power steering lines, steering column and AC.  Did you know 3/4 of that little engine is behind the leading edge of the windshield? And there is no way GM thought about anyone needing to work on these POS's.   
Give me an old FE anytime I hate these newer cars.

The head bolts over 1 and 2 are easy to get to without taking the car in half. What's the problem? Mitchell 2009 Labor Guide:

Maybe the Mitchell book is right for 2009 (14hrs for a pair heads removed) add 10 more years of heat cycle fatigue and rust making it a bear to not round off or break too many bolts during removal and that 14hrs should go up. I only broke two of them off.  The ones between the heads and firewall are especially fun to get to and why did GM feel it's necessary to use every different size metric bolt they could think of.   
What does that book say for FE heads in a mustang? Maybe it doesn't go back that far.

[e philpott]

My all data doesn't go back far enough for FE but a 1979 F150 460 is 10.8 to remove both heads for head gasket and add .5 for A/C so 11.3 hours

[chris401]

My all data doesn't go back far enough for FE but a 1979 F150 460 is 10.8 to remove both heads for head gasket and add .5 for A/C so 11.3 hours

These books only go back to 1989. Does Alldata still require interrogation to get the time out of it? Last I used in 2012 if you missed one little * or foot note you were behind on time. At that time there wiring diagrams were a little better than On-demand.

[e philpott]

It's all online now , back when Alldata first went computer it was all Disc and started with 1981 , now it's online but wouldn't pull up a 1976 FE so I jumped to 1979 and went with 460 , I can email them for archives on older stuff

[chris401]

I remember the CD's. Quite a colection if you had Asian and European. We transitioned to online around 2010/2011. It was me getting these books that convinced the owner to swap from Alldata to Mitchell On-demand. Can remember who supplied it but we had a Vintage supplement.