I have pulled the cylinder heads off my 1988 5.3L V12. I am stomped on how to remove the camshaft housing from the head itself. I am also stomped as to whether or not there is a gasket between the housing and head.
The items I am referring to are labeled 1 and 3 in the diagram attached
There is no gasket between them. If there is no oil leak between them, then I’d suggest you don’t separate them as you can only make things worse. If the cylinder head is off of the car, there is nothing holding them together. other than friction and baked-in oil (after the Allen key headed bolts are removed). See an exploded diagram for where the locating dowel over one of the front studs will be.
kind regards
Marek
It’s commonly called a “tappet block”. There is no gasket between them, perhaps because the thickness of such gasket would figure into the valve clearances. The tappet block is held to the head with some recessed socket head screws, either 1/4" or 6mm depending on year.
By all means, take it apart, and reassemble using a modern sealant such as Loctite 518. Jaguar sealed this joint with Hylomar, which is not a suitable sealant for such a metal-to-metal joint. And be careful where you apply the bead of sealant, as the machined faces don’t meet everywhere.
Best way to separate them? They are pretty stuck together
In my limited experience, once you get all the screws out they pretty much fall apart. I suppose someone might have had them apart before and resealed with something that glued them together. Perhaps there’s a spot somewhere where you can apply leverage with a screwdriver.
Is there a way to take the valve springs out without separating the head and tappet block?
It looks very hillbilly but I used the cherry picker to separate the head and tappet block. Will use flathead and muscles to separate the rear
Plenty of methods - each with its pros and cons. Put rope down the spark plug hole. Compressed air if the valves are closed. Inflate a balloon. Perhaps even use the correct valve spring compressor tool.
kind regards
Marek