How do you replace the head gasket located on a 1983 Honda Civic?

Answer 1

When I had to remove my valve just to get it fixed, I noticed that you'd have to remove the carburetor which is a 4 bolt connection that holds the carb in its place, before you do that, you would need to unplug a bunch of hoses that is connected all around the carburetor, I suggest you get about 14 different nail polish color and make sure you mark them so that when you put the carb back together, u'll be able to pinpoint or save yourself the hassle of going through the diagram to connect all of them back together, anyways, AFTER THE CARB's removal, you need to get under the car to disconnect the muffler from the exhaust, 5 bolt altogether in that one, make sure you keep each category of nuts and bolts so you don't get too meshy when it comes to identifying which is which, for example, I had an envelop and labled the 5 bolt "EXHAUST/MUFFLER bolt" on the envelop and sealed it so whenever I'm going back to connect them again, I got a labeled envelop to guide the way, after you disconnect the muffler/exhaust, you need to move 10 "cylinder head bolts" that's located in the valve area, ALSO!! 2 bolt that holds the install oil pump drive gear(easily visible with a two bolt that holds the plate over the drive gear right around the valve cylinder bolt area, then U should be able to pull out the valve, then the piston heads should be visible RIGHT THERE, you would need to get head gasket, valve/exhaust gasket, then work your way back up putting everything together the way you pulled it apart, remember the nail polish theory, that'll save you the same, times the diagram is hard to head you'd need a magnifyin' glass to follow it up sometimes, whenever you take apart an engine liek that, you need to set the head piston to TDC(two people to do this, one to watch the crankcase pulley until the marker come in view), which is visible through the hole of the crankcase, a non color mark, the yellow is for the BDC(bottom dead center), TDC (top dead center,make sure you get the white colored TDC mark aligned with pointer set up on the outside of the crankcase pointer, THAT's your TDC for the piston, make sure you get the valve TDC set up, there's 3 different TDC arrangement, the first one's the crankcase,the second one's the valve, u don't wanna put in the valve until you get up the TDC where the valve (when it's open) doesn't come in contact with the piston, you get bent valve from that, hence another 275 bucks for a fix up if you're unlucky. Anyways, if you don't know how to do the timing, just make sure you twist and turn and watch the valve function and make sure you know the firing order's 1,3,4,2 so the valve functions the same way, the TDC piston seeting is 1 and 4 piston is rised to the top, while the 2 and 3 piston is lowered into the bottom of the crankcase, that's the TDC, so the valve TDC probably is the valve number 1 and 2 interaction, having the valve number 2 ready to close and the 1 ready to open, that would be the TDC, also the Camshaft(the valve pulley) will have a sprocket that is a line on the edge of the pulley, set one end on 0 degree and another on 180, that's TDC, but be sure you set up the TDC first by watching the valve open and close so you know where you're readed at, cuz u don't want a O degree marker at the 180 degree marker, u wanna be sure u're not upside down. I hope I explain everything right, for those who aren't timing belt friendly, send it to the "time and wrench" shop, better than spending another 300 bucks for a repair, perhap less if you knew how to replace the valve stem yourself.

Deaf Joe