Noob with cylinder head questions

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JonathanDB

New Member
I recently had a head gasket blow on my '98 civic EX and decided to do all the work myself and save $1200 in labor costs at the auto shop. I am not very experienced with cars, but I know how engines work and have done a little work on my dirtbike and such.

I had a friend help me, and with the help of the service manual and Andrew's awesome writeup here: https://hondaswap.com/general-tech-articles/how-change-head-gasket-lots-pics-71528/. I was able to get the head off, get it resurfaced at a machine shop (very warped) and clean everything up.

My car is now all torn apart in my shop and I have the gaskets, and am just waiting on an exhaust manifold to arrive (found it was super cracked) before I put it back together. I have two questions:

A. I am worried that the machine shop might have moved the cam and therefore my timing would be off. How do I get make sure the timing is right?

and B. I'm unsure about bolting my head back on. Are my headbolts fine the way they are? I would really not rather spend another $50 on new head bolts. Also, how do I clean my bolt holes out in case coolant or oil spilled in when I removed the head?

I would really appreciate any and all help! And again, thanks to Andrew for his writeup. That writeup is how I found this site and why I joined.
 
get your engine TOP DEAD CENTER ! Put the cam in TOP DEAD CENTER ! look up torque specifications, put the head studs in , and torque them, then re-assemble, make sure to clean all your surfaces before assembly, done, have fun, its like a 4 hour job in all reality
 
Okay, thanks a ton! My engine's already in TDC, so I just have to make sure the cam is. I assumed it was as simple as that, but didnt want to mess anything up. lol
 
I personally, would spend the money and get new head bolts. There is a LOT of torque on head bolts, spend the money and get new ones.
 
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