Head Gasket

How hard is it to do the head gasket?? I know you gotta rip half the damn motor apart but other then that what else is there??

Also, im puttin an aftermarket exhaust on my car. Probably a Skunk2 or Greddy. Is it difficult to do? IM going from the Header back b/c my exhaust now sounds like a weed wacker cause when i bought it, it had no cat on it!

Head gasket is fairly involved, if you want you can search this forum for Helms Manual and you should find some links to a downloadable shop manual for your car that will show the whole process.

If its a premade bolt on exhaust it should be as simple as taking the old one off and putting the new one on. Most of them available are catback systems and if you want to put a new cat on it and replace the piping from the manifold to the cat that will probably have to be done at a muffler shop.

Head gasket isnt as hard as it seems, just a little tideous. First thing to do is remove everything you see going to head except the Intake Manifold, I find it easier to remove that when the head is off if your going to remove it at all. This involves removing the Exhaust Manifold, Fuel Line, unplug all the sensors and fuel injectors on the head and Intake Manifold, disconnect Throttle Cable, disconnect Heater Core hoses, remove the valve cover and upper timing cover, Set #1 cylinder Top Dead Center and mark your cam gear and belt so even if it slips, you will have a mark to go by, remove the timing belt, at some point or another get under the vehicle and there are 2 bolts on a brace running from the block to the Intake manifold, remove them, and now start breaking your head bolts loose.

It seems like a lot, but its not really, the biggest thing is you gotta make sure you get your timing marked correctly and I highly suggest getting new head bolts, it sucks when one breaks on you. I would go ahead and do what TSC said and look up the Helms Manual, it will give you a more indepth view on it and the torque specs on the head bolts.