Symptoms-Rough idle issues when warm especially in Drive, average idle in park/neutral

Replaced the gasket on monday night, took about 2.5hrs. Those back bolts on the BBM are pricks( No6 bottom bolt and the back heater bypass support bolt). I dropped me 1/4" drive down between the block and starter motor(took about 30min to fish it out with a coat hanger )

The gasket looked ok, had a few tiny splits but you could see at the bottom of each cyclinder cutout that the gasket material had gone all flakey and seperating. Thats why when I retightened the bolts about 6months ago the idle improved(bandaid solution)

Gasket cost $35 from Repco, i got ripped. But on the upside I managed not to break anything off.

BTW- Gregory's manual advised to remove the top half of the BBM first, I managed to remove the BBM complete with just 1/4 ratchet, 10mm skt, 1/4in ext bars, short 10mm spanner. Took the airbox and snorkel out to get access to bottom bolts.

Cheers

An 'S' shaped 10mm spanners are the go too for that job. I use hi-temp grease on the gasket....keeps it supple for longer.

Ratchet spanners are also a life saver in removing the hard to get bolts and make the task so much easier. Just remember to crack the bolt first before you use the ratchet end...or you may just break your precious spanner.

Also if you remove the top half of the BBM, it will make it easier, but it also means you might need to get a new gasket that goes between the two halves.

I didn't put anything on the ACL inlet gasket, just cleaned up both surfaces on the head and manifold. The original ford gasket which had done 180000km had nothing smeared on it.

cheers...

Make sure if u use gasket sealant on the gasket make sure its sensor safe other wise the O2 sensor will s**t its pants. I used reddish brown 3 bond but u can also use ultra blue sensor safe which i used on the gasket that separated the BBM. 3 bond is awsome s**t works on neally anything and seals real good but use sparingly as it looks messy and will block some of the inlet port when tightening the bolts.

yeah no worries