Head Gaskets Are Off

Here atre the head gaskets. I started about a week ago and I'm finally ready to take my heads to the machine shop.

Here's the heads, a pile gaskets above each (intake, exhaust, and head), and their bolts to the right.

The pistons on the passenger side after the heads were removed. For some reason there is more space on this side of the engine and the heads lifted off much easier.

The pistons on the driver's side. It looks like I got the pistons in the right position because they are all out of the way so the can't be hit by the valves. This side didn't have as much clearance and Michelle had to hold the air conditioning compressor out of the way to get the head out. I actually had to try a couple of times because as it turns out the transmission cooler lines are bolted to the bottom of the head on this side.

Here's my newly constructed workbench serving its intended purpose. The camshafts, camshaft caps, and rocker arm assemblies are carefully laid out on labeled towels for simple installation when the time comes. The rest of the parts are on the bottom shelf with the bolts in labeled plastic bags. Hopefully I'm organized enough to get it all back together quickly. I used to like to play with legos as a kid.

Here's a picture of the intake manifold after removing it.

Complications:
1. I read about the camshaft caps requiring a Torx wrench. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that half the bolts were T-40 and the other half 5 mm allen. As it turns out I got the passenger side cap off using a T-35 in place of the 5 mm without stripping any bolt heads. I don't plan to use that for reassembly.
2. I already mentioned about the transmission cooler lines being bolted to the underside of the head on the driver's side. That made life interesting.
3. When I removed the exhaust manifold there was one stud that unscrewed itself from the head rather than the nut coming off the stud. I'll probably end up replacing that stud and nut.