86 b2000 Head gasket change

So it has come to be the time to replace the headgasket in my 86 b2000. Have had a small oil leak from the head under the distributor for some time now. It just started leaking coolant also, so im throwing in the towel and doing the swap. All of my parts came in so I started on it today. I got the head off and started cleaning everything up to put it back together. Im also changing the waterpump, timing belt and tensioner while im in there. Some pics to follow and ill be taking more tomorrow as i clean it up and reassemble.

Pics

more photos

I cleaned the head up today to find that it was warped. Had well over the .006" service limit. Im ordering a complete new head. Found one for 375$ complete from valves to rocker arm assembly. Hopefully ill have it by the middle of next week. Ill take the time to nitpick and clean the rest of the block before it gets here.

Don't forget to retorque after 500 miles... or you'll be doing it again.

I definately will. Already got that burned into my brain. Ive read a couple threads where people made that mistake. Always better to learn from someone elses mistake. Haha

I did the same job a few months ago, and I'm almost to 500 miles. I'm curious, though about retorque with TTY bolts. I've read that if you loosen TTY bolts, you should replace them, or you run a risk of them breaking.

When you retorque, you don't loosen them. The only time you loosen headbolts is to remove the head. Btw, tty bolts were never used on our engines.

I know its not a good idea to reuse head bolts. I wasnt sure if they were tty or not, they were pretty rusty coming out so i figured it would be a good idea to replace them with new ones when i put the new head on. If anyone is looking for head bolts, Rock Auto had a full head bolt set for like 40$. Mazda wanted 18$ a peice for them.

Many - including Axel Breaker and me - have re-used head bolts.