Head gasket change out

[bigred]

First of all, I want to thank M42 for all of the help it has given me.  Here is the story, I found coolant on the drive after using the car.  (1991 318i  red 5 speed euro base car (speedo in kilometers) )  So I decided to change the head gasket, timing chain, vac hoses, etc etc.  As of today the head is off of the car waiting for parts.  I found rubber blocking the coolant passages on the head gasket.  The engine is clean, no signs of wear anywhere except for the profile coolant gasket.  It was hard as a rock and fell apart when it was removed.  Hence rubber in the head gasket.  All of the work is going good,  need to find a way to clean up the valve cover.  Looked into power coating but the cover has baffles that hides sand blasting material.  So the guy wouldn't do it.  Any suggestions on how to remove the baffle?  I will give up dates on the project later .

[alim_h]

I'm changing out mine too but lost track of where the locating dowels sit between the head and block. If you still have yours in the block or the head, can you send me a picture?

[bigred]

Sorry it took so long

[alim_h]

No prob. Thanks!

[bigred]

Finished the head gasket replacement along with the timing chain.  The engine started up with no problems, it never ran this good before.  No coolant or oil leaks as of yet.  Thanks again to M42's help.