Tired motor revival questions.....

[book-ends]

Hello all,

I searched around a little but I wasn't sure exactly what I was looking for. I'm sorry if this is a repost:

My friend said that when I do full throttle pulls getting on the highway, passing people or whatnot, that a very small puff of smoke comes out, but he can't tell if it's white or blue. In any case, I'm aware of the difference between the two, but I'm wondering what I can do to breath a little more life into my aging KA. It currently has almost 180K on it.

I'd like to change the head gasket and I was thinking about swapping out the valve seals. Is there anything else that I should consider doing so that I have a plan of attack? Also, how difficult is it to swap out the valve seals?

Thank you very much in advance.

[180fan]

Valve seals aren't too hard to replace...if you've got the right tools. The thing to be on the lookout for is proper valve spring compressor. That'll make your life alot easier with the valve seal replacement.

The other seals to consider replacing...have you replaced your timing chain yet? If you're gonna tear it down, might as well do that too. You can find a list of things to get at courtesyparts.com they've got a pretty complete list. Another thing to consider while your motor's apart, is to pull out the IACV and give it a good hosing, ditto with your EGR. Might want to replace old coolant/oil/air hoses that run around your motor. It's been a while for most of them and they're probably due for a change. Might also want to consider getting new motor mounts, at 187k when my motor was pulled, the left side mount was ripped in half and my transmission mount was split on one side too. Those would be good things to look into replacing.