The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop on yer basic V8,

what's the successful likelyhood of pulling and replacing one head without pulling the manifold?

The odds are somewhere between slim and none. You would have to at least loosen the intake on both sides to allow the head to be lifted off the dowels in the block, and that would break the gasket seal. What's the reason for pulling only one head?
Jerry

Be much easier to remove the manifold anyway. Rather than trying to align the head back on the dowels while trying to keep the manifold gasket in place.

that's how i remembered it but it's been a while
cylinders 2&4 may have a leaking valve/s, 65&85 comp, and with the rockers arms off/both valves closed, neither cylinder will hold pressure when i tried to do a leakdown test. it may just be carbon deposits, the vehicle's been sitting for a while, but a 1/2 can of sea foam directly in the carb/1/2 in the tank, then running it hard up and down the road didn't do the trick. i was hoping to shorten the job bec i'm selling the vehicle. high speed is ok, but at idle, the vehicle 'vibrates' and has a surging tach with intermittant exhaust 'poomps'/misses

Pick up a complete head gasket set, comes with manifold gaskets. I would pull both of them and inspect them.

oh, i already have a complete gasket set in the basement, but i really don't want to pull it all. the other 6 cylinders are at 120 comp. i had the heads re-done 10ish years ago, and used that vehicle for only a few thousand miles with no problems. but it's sat for the last 5ish years and only started and run around a 1/2 dozen times. i may go in tomorrow, borrow a scope, pull the exhaust manifold and carb to see if i can see anything. sure wish it was small enough to get in the spark plug hole and fold backward

update edit - at least the ext man bolts came out easily. and with a mirror on a steek, i could at least see that the valves are lifting. but they don't have the look as though they've had any exhaust/black ring on them like the other two cylinders' valves

update's update - thanks for the advice about not trying to pull one head, bec that'd been terribly frustrating even if it had went 'well'. one cracked valve and one distorted. fortunately, i had a completely machined one in the basement and only needed a manifold gasket. and in the process, the exhaust donut gaskets completely disintegrated upon 'removal'. do they naturally disintegrate with age, or does that indicate a leak that i wasn't hearing?

Those donuts don't last very well and they usually crunble when they are removed.

if you need to pull the head off any engine it is best to pull the whole top end to inspect and repair any damage as this will save you a lot of future grief, and the replacement of any gaskets with fresh ones is absolutely necessary.......

I would say that the answer to the question is no. The intake needs to come off.

In my playbook, trying to save time or energy by not removing components and working around them is often possible, but generally futile and more energy/time consuming.

Too many times, in the past, I have tried to work around things without removing them. I can't think of many instances that saved me time, energy, knuckle scrapes, or where I didn't learn another lesson about wrenching.

How can you do a proper inspection of parts and cleaning of surfaces of components when they are left onder the hood? If you CAN do that, how do you do it in a way that won't contaminate the rest of the engine?