I'm in the middle of replacing the plenum and timing chaing. What a PITA. First, I couldn't get the damn fan off so I had to take it out with the water pump. My poor back if I had been able to take it off I could have just stood in the engine bay. Anyways I have everything taken off and I have a couple of questions. I really don't want to have to tear it down again. I looked at the intale on the heads and they have a ton of build up on them. Should I try to clean them off now or should I run some chemicals after I reinstall everything? Also are there any special precautions I have to take to get the timing chain back on as far as timing and stuff like that. I can't find a writeup that talks about it much.

clean the valves now and use chemicals after, theres no harm in doubling up on cleanness.

Well it's not the valves so much. It the actual walls of the intake ports on the heads. They are black and very rough. Should I get a dremel out and maybe open them up a little bit?

i think thats porting your heads, but not sure. Yea i think you could do that just be perpared to go through bits because the heads are now casehardend because they are always under heat

prob not the smartest idea..

little metal shavings going into combustion chamber = bad

Just take the heads off Your just a few bolts away, and you canalso inspect them for cracks, etc

The first time I had to use a propane torch to break that nut. The second time just two large pair of channel locks.

i wouldn't mess around with heads or ports or valves unless i was going to remove the heads. you don't want any kind of shavings or trash or broken bits falling into the engine.

be sure and use a harmonic balance puller to get that off. do not pull on the outside of it as it'll ruin it. (ask me how i know).

timing gears are keyed, and have "dots" stamped on them. find those and put a dab of paint or orange rtv on the dots for a good visual.

mark this on the old gears and rotate the engine around so the crank dot is up, and the cam dot is down, and they line up. take the old ones off while in this position, and then put the new ones on. its best to not rotate the engine while chain is off, and then it can't get out of whack.

there is only one way for the crank gear to go on.. and there is only one way for cam gear to go one. what you have to do is put the gears inside the chain, line up the dots, and then slide the gears onto the shafts while in this assembled fashion.

pic.

Definately not a smart idea... if you want to work on the heads, pull them off, probably another 30~45 minutes worth of work to get them off. if you do yank them, I highly recommend getting a set of ARP head bolts to replace the stockers.

personally, I'd leave it as is and use chemicals to do the cleaning, unless your willing to yank the heads. Summit racing has mopar gaskets for 50% less than what the dealer charges and it is the exact same part (been there!)

I decided to leave the heads on. I'll run somecleaner through it and hope it knocks it all off. I also got the engine put back together and runs great. At first if I reved the engine it would die as soon as I let off the gas but, that might have been the computer relearning the cam since I advanced it by 4 degrees. I wouldn't think there would be much differnce but, I can now break the tires loose from a dead stop wich I couldn't do before. One question though what is the proper way to fill the cooling system? I filled it with coolant and then let it run tillit warmed up and I kept adding coolant. I got like three gallons in there. I know it's not full because when I rev the engine I can hear the fluid sloshing in side of the heater core.