1982 EXPert

I got a spare 1.6 head 2 years back and I finally have the time to refurbish it.

The camshaft is stuck in the head and my lifters are all froze in it as well..... (previous owner had it out of the car for 20ish years dry)
Does anyone have tricks to getting the lifters out when they're stuck? I hoping the cam will come right out when the lifters pop out but I can't even turn the camshaft.....


Lastly, I was curious if any of you know where this head came from. I don't recall any of my American heads having "Essex" on them and I was told that the American heads all have rocker bolts instead of rocker studs (this one has studs unlike my 1.9 head).

1982 EXPert

I was finally able to get my cam and lifters out, after soaking the entire head in various lubricants and rust removers the cam and lifters were still all locked in place so I resorted to disassembling the lifters in their bores in the head so I could use a puller on the insides of them. So after painstakingly (as they were mostly rusted shut) took the lifters all apart I was able to use a puller with a slide hammer to yank them on out..... Once the lifters were all evacuated I could see that the cam didn't even have much surface rust on it so I thought I could now spin the cam over since the lifters were all out - not quite. I still couldn't get my cam to turn and I had tried everything but an impact gun (which my shop instructor strongly advised against) so I resorted to it. I thought if I could just give it a couple short twists it would break free, after 2 quick blips it turned each time so I ran the gun some while the cam spun quite freely. Then I was finally able to pull it out of my head...... The cam had some surface texturing (only on the lobes) but it all came off after a soak in the ultrasonic cleaner.

So now I just need to recondition the bare head. I want to bead blast all its surfaces with micro-plastic beads (they don't scratch any metal) but I'm told it's near impossible to get them all back out of my head if I try blasting it, what do you recommend here?
I also want to port the head on both sides (intake ports are tiny but my exhaust side is bigger than my 1.9's) and remove some of the extra casting flanges to help blue-print it. Do you have any tips for what to grind and what to leave be?

Here's everything all cleaned up (except for the lower valve retainers), I blasted all the rockers, valves, springs, and top retainers already: