head removal

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I use the persuader. A big rubber mallot. After you are certain no bolts/nuts are still affixed of course. Do not lever up with a screw driver or any other metal thing. Smacking upwards with a chunk of wood works too.
 
Good chance a valve(s) are unequally loaded/unloaded try slowly turning the crank. The head has to be lifted evenly or one or more of the 3 downward facing studs will cock and jam. If you have to resort to whacking the head you have entered the "twilight zone" of unpleasant possibilities...Doesn't mean you'll roll snake eyes, does mean you are gambling.

Best.
 
I should have added above: If all 10 head fasteners have been removed and the head is not budging then turn the crank and see if the valve springs will help you; do this carefully and at the first sign that the head is loosening reverse the direction of rotation and let the springs act on the other side. If the head still isn't moving I suggest reinstalling the 4 outer bolts, the rear center nut and the front most bolt, but leave them with about 5 turns out from bottomed. At this point you can kick the engine through a few rotations (plugs out). If that isn't working get your heat gun and work it above and below the head/barrel junction; add a few rotations from time to time. All the engines I have stripped have not needed getting to the heat gun session.

If the head still refused to move I'd say that you are fully justified in rolling the dice.

Best.
 
By dice they mean the increased odds of breaking a fun from an errant blow.

What you may want to do is lay out all of the fasteners you removed and take a picture for us.

Here’s mine coming off.

 
Note roadscholars point in post 4... ALL 10 HEAD FASTENERS...

You’d not be the first, or last, to break a fin trying to remove a head with a fastener still tight...

If you do need to get violent, a soft drift (wood, plastic, etc) up under the rocker box area between the two rocker plates and in the exhaust ports are good areas to apply for force without damage.
 
Screw the exhaust roses back in and whack them upward with a block of wood and a good mallet.
 
RoadScholar said:
Good chance a valve(s) are unequally loaded/unloaded try slowly turning the crank.
Click to expand...

My normal comment in preparation of a head removal AND installation is, the crank/pistons must be at TDC and therefore the cam is under the least/ NO load (if adjusters are loosened 3 turns on the overlap side).
A piece of 2x2 (half a 2x4) "in" the exhaust port (NO rose) being hit.
And it goes without saying the front central bolt is ALWAYS the first installed or last to be removed.
 
In the U.K. We say 4x2... it's always intrieged me why the US state the size the other way around???
 
Why?
This catagory of sizing standard is "2 by".
2 x2
2 x 4
2 x 6
2 x 8
2 x 10
2 x 12
I have used them all for the last 50+ years...
May be it is because we/USA use so much wood in construction.
How much wood is used in UK building? Are there plenty of wood forests in England to be harvested.
Had a guy come to work at our company. He was used to European style stone and block construction.
He was SO distraught by feeling he would have to buy and live in a impoverished wood style house (the shame of it) he did not take the job and went back home...and he told us so..

Let me add, that having also been around a few saw mill environments, the saw increment is 2"(raw) for ALL of the above sizes rather than the other way around.
 
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And wot about that old ship built out of English Oak that took the first pilgrims over there... ;)
 
EstuaryBoy said:
We was building houses when there was only wigwams on your side of the pond..... :)
Click to expand...
Doesn't mean that they were good.... Hey I'm kidding, just as I think you were.... Back to the original posters question, definitely make sure all fastners are removed. I was able to free one up that was on a bike that had been stored outside for a really long time by using a couple of one inch cargo straps and placing them under the head between the barrel and head and then going over the top frame tube. I used the ratchet straps to get some upward tension going on, then used a chunk of wood (yes part of a 2x4) :) and wacked away. Using the exhaust ports sounds safe (can't recall where I placed my makeshift wooden drift but it did take a few strikes.
 
To come back to the original question for a moment..
You could always try placing the pistons at BDC then feeding some rope through the plug hole into the cylinder coming up under compression (i.e both valves closed) then bring the piston carefully up. As soon as there is any movement, stop. If it still does not want to loosen, repeat on the other side, again keeping to the compression stroke. You really do not want to risk bending a valve.

Now back to the usual program of trading gentle insults across the pond...
 
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