Stripping the head

Remove the ancillaries from the cylinder head, including the thermostat housing and the timing belt tensioner, which consists of a jockey wheel and spring on early Pintos.The spring for the jockey wheel is located with a bolt, which requires an 8 mm-splined drive to undo it (later engines have two 13 mm bolts).

10 The camshaft bearings can be renewed by removing the old ones with a suitable dolly or socket. Clean the bearing faces with wet-anddry and clean the oilways with a pipe cleaner before fitting new bearings.

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2 Remove the camshaft sprocket, located with one 17 mm bolt. After removing the pulley, there should be a plate behind it. Note which way round it is fitted to save refitting it the wrong way around (timing mark is on the face of it).

8 The Pinto head has no valve guides to remove. The bores need to be drilled out to fit the new guides, which are tapped in place with a rod-shaped insertion tool and any excess is removed with a special tool.

6 Sandblasting the cylinder head helps to clean it up and see any cracks between the valve seats. However, pressure-testing a head is the best approach to finding cracks. Most machine shops can do this for you.

7 Place a suitably sized pilot down the valve guides to check for play. If play can be found, it’s worth fitting new guides and inserts.The inlets are usually OK, but the exhausts often need changing.

9 The holes for the new valve inserts need to be milled out.The new inserts are fitted and milled down to the correct height, then the inserts are cut for the valve seats. If the valve seats are not replaced, they can be re-cut instead.

5 The ball studs for the cam followers can be removed with a 19 mm spanner. Use a spring compressor to extract the valve springs, valves, collets and valve stem oil seals.

3 Remove the oil spray bar, located with three 10 mm bolts.This is a weak point on the engine, so either renew it or make sure it’s clean.The one shown here has been flattened.

4 Undo two bolts for a retaining plate at the back of the cam. Unclip the followers and lever them out using a screwdriver.The cam can now be removed through its bearing carriers.