The question was asked me in a PM so I made a small writeup. I'll make it public here for others' reference and scrutiny: If you disagree with anything or have something to add please do.
I only ask you don't quote my whole post but just the section you are directly discussing so that it doesn't flood the thread. (In fact I'll make it a quote so you can't just "reply" to it)
Only dive in if you're absolutely sure it's needed. Would suck to do the work and spend the money only to find out it's the carb or an injector.
If possible I'd recommend having a shop do a leakdown test on your car. They pump compressed air into the cylinders and listen for where it leaks to help localize where the compression is leaking.
Oil filler cap means bad rings. (possibly head gasket or cracked head but not as likely as rings)
Boiling coolant means head gasket. (possibly cracked head)
Hissing into intake manifold means intake valves. (Cam timing; Lash too tight; poorly seating or bent)
Hissing into exhaust means exhaust valves. (Cam timing; Lash too tight; poorly seating, bent, or burnt)
http://www.redpepper...hap6/?g2_page=2Follow what's in there and you should be good. Don't be afraid to skip some steps that you're willing to take a chance on (Like measuring the cam for example, it's not likely that it's bad)
I'll give you a quick rundown of the quick and dirty way to change the head gasket. You can add steps and checks from the manual as you see fit.
1) Remove the top timing belt cover, put the car in gear (4th) with parking brake on, and brake loose the cam gear bolt and crank pulley bolt.
2) Lift the front of the car and put it on stands so you're safe to crawl around under the car.
4) Pop open the rad cap and drain 4L of coolant through the drain plug on the bottom of the rad. (catch it in a clean container, if the coolant is clean you can reuse it.) Disconnect the coolant hoses.
3) Remove the spark plugs/wires, disconnect the throttle cable and tuck it out of the way, remove the intake plumbing from the manifold, disconnect the valve cover breather tube, unbolt the distributor (and pump if carbed) and tilt it out of the way.
4) Remove the bracket securing the intake manifold to the block, you'll probably have to do this from under the car.
5) Brake the intake manifold bolts loose, and snug them back up, keep the intake manifold attached to the head for now.
6) The luck bit, unbolt your exhaust manifold from the head hopefully without snapping studs. You should be able to pull the manifold off the studs and the weight will pull it away from the head.
7) Remove the alternator belt, crank pulley, all timing belt covers and the timing belt. Throw away old timing belt
8) Remove valve cover and cam gear (don't loose the cam gear key, the piece of metal that keeps the cam gear from spinning around the cam)
9) Punch holes in a piece of cardboard to
organize your head bolts and remove them installing it into said cardboard.
The head bolts are 2 different sizes and need to go back where they came from. *Note - remove the head bolts in a spiral pattern starting form outside working your way to the centre.*
---The oil and coolant absorbed by the head gasket and cured by heat will act as an epoxy gluing the head to the block---
10) Using the intake manifold as a leaver, break the head loose. You can tap the intake manifold with a 2x4 from underneath to help brake it loose.
11) Once the head is loose, unbolt the intake manifold and tilt it out of the way. *note - you don't need to disconnect any vacuum lines, just the throttle cable, intake plumbing and valve cover breather*
12) Pull the head straight up and off the block. Plug the oil and coolant passages with paper towel to prevent junk falling in.
13) Clean all gasket surfaces of old gasket material.
--On the head that's the exhaust ports, intake ports, valve cover mating surface, and engine mating surface.
--In the engine bay that is the block deck, the intake manifold, and the exhaust manifold. Also clean the head bolt holes from oil and junk. Clean cylinders of junk that fell in while cleaning the other stuff.
14)
Check the head, make sure it's not warped http://www.redpepper...p6/aar.png.html15)Inspect the valves for signs of cracking, poor seating, burning, or bending.
---You might consider taking the head into a shop to have it refreshed, then they will do all that for you. It means shop labour, but if the shop is good you'll end up with a head that good as new.----
You are now ready to reassemble the engine, the procedure is in reverse, all the torque specs and alignments are found in the manual link at the top of this message.
When you're done, change the oil.
I'm from Canada so I can't recommend anything in terms of a store (I use Lordco because I have an account I can use there), but people here have good luck buying parts at www.rockauto.com. You can get your gasket kit there.
Only "special" tools you'll need are a torque wrench to tighten up the head bolts (refer to service manual link for range) and a mechanics/machinists straight edge (not needed if you send the head to a shop to have it refreshed)
Going this far in you might consider re-ringing your pistons and honing your cylinders, only thing that adds is to remove the oil pan, undo rod end bolts, push the pistons out the top of the engine and re-ring them (or send them to the shop with the head) Adds a few hours, cost of rings, and requires a piston ring spreader/compressor and a cylinder hone.
If you choose to do this, make sure to track the direction and position of your pistons and rod caps. Since you're not replacing the rod barrings you need them to go back in the exact spot and direction they came from. You find the torque specs for the rod caps in the service manual under "Engine Block" (chapter 7)