l blew a head gasket yesterday on my 93 Mercury Cougar 3.8. l have started to install a new one, and have a few things off, but l need to know what all needs to come off, or if there are a few shortcuts l can take. Thank you

Sounds like your in over your head already. Taking an engine apart is usually the easy part ,putting it back together correctly is the hard part so if your already in trouble you better stop now.And if this doesn,t convince you then l guess your best bet would be to buy or borrow a Chilton or Mitchell manual and follow it step by step. And if you do it your self make sure the heads are not cracked or warped or all your work will be a waste of time.Good luck.

l am a fair mechanic , but when l work on something l am not familiar with l take alot of close up digital pictures to use as reference latter.

Really no shortcuts, Get a Chilton is or Haynes manual and read everything. Everything on top of the engine comes off. Just undo the exhaust manifolds and let them hang down. Also you will need the special tool to undo the fuel lines. Be prepared, you will probably need more than just head gaskets, those aluminum heads are not very tough, make sure you take them to a machine shop to check for cracks, warpage, etc.. Good luck!

l do not want to sound mean but if u never done this before get someone that has, to at least help. This is a repair that if not done right u will be doing it again before long. You can remove the exhaust manifolds, upper intake, then the lower intake. Remove the ground wire off the back of one head. Remove the brackets on the front of the heads. Remove & keep in order the rockers & push rods. Need to go back in the same place. Remove the head bolts & heads. l recommend having the heads checked while u have them off, may cost $200 to have it done, but worth it if u r keeping the car. You will need new head bolts, DO NOT USE the old ones, they r torque to yeild bolts. Ford has a proceedure for tighting the new head bolts, l recommend using it to install heads to keep from having this happen again. Use a good amount of silicone around the corners of the lower intake to stop oil leakage. Sometimes the O2 sensor will have to be replaced due to coolent contaimation. This is something that will show up within 200 miles, the check engine light will come on if they go bad. Take ur time, get a repair book, well worth the $ for this, & a good book to have for future repairs.

l think head gaskets are tricky, and expensive!!! l wouldnt attempt it on my own.

the head cylinder needs to come off