well ive finally come around to pulling the head off my 97gs, all thats left to do is unbolt the intake mani brackets, how do i get to them cause its a tight fit from the top, am i gonna have to go from the bottom??

 

I usually just break em... lol

 

so ive read.....lol

 

Just get them off any way you can get to them. You should be able to do it from the top. But if you cant reach then go from the bottom. You might have trouble locating them from the bottom though so hopefully you can have someone around to help you out

 

alright, do you think it would be a good idea to put a new water pump while im at it? a friend of mine was telling me to get the head shaved, is that a good idea?

 

If you have the money its definetly a good idea to do the water pump when pulling the head. Since your already there and you dont want to have to do it again later and deal with the problems if it goes.

As far as getting the head shaved, idk that depends if you like being bald, haha. But seriously what do you mean shaved. Like the surface where the head gasket it. That you just have to sand down smooth, but be careful not to much

 

hahaha funny te!!! and as far as gaskets and stuff do i just buy the whole full headgasket set, oh and do i needa replace the head bolts??

 

yea you should get everything while your down there... and as far as the bolts yes you will NEED to get new ones... the stock ones are stretch bolts so you can't use them again... i suggest getting arp headstuds and cometic head gasket and you'll be set for quite some time

 

ok cool, if i have anymore ?s along the way ill be hitting yall back up, thanks!!

 

if you have the money i'd also suggest a timing belt, tensioner bearing, tensioner and idler bearing. it will only run you like another 150 and it's worth it just for peace of mind and like TE said, so you won't have to do it later on.
as for shaving the head. if you do that it will raise the compression slightly so you may wanna go a slightly thicker head gasket (cometic is great).
you SHOULD replace the head bolts, but if you take a close look at them, just check if there is any stretching of ANY thread on any one of them. if they are not streched than they are ok to used again (did it on my 420a and it was fine for 6 months or so). but if you plan on running some decent power (300+whp) i'd definatly run ARP's on there.