Anyone have any guess of the amount of time necessary to R&R a head gasket from a 1993 XJ6? I'm being offered a beautiful Red/Tan car with very low mileage for $1300 with a blown head gasket.

Do these heads crack?

Any cautions or other advice?

I'm an ex-engineer from Ford with several years experience as a service trainer, but my hands on experience is about average for this type of work. Advice?

 

the dealer charges 8 hours to do the gasket and 16 hours for a valve job.its not hard but time consuming.if you are good with your hands and have access to a good set of hand tools this is a great head to do. if you do this job i would definatly do the valve seals and hand lap the valves.these heads dont generaly crack but i have seen the gasket surface get a little pitted,to fix this we put a light skimmcoat of jb weld over the pitted area let it cure then sand it level with a good long file.if i havent scared you off go get a shop manuel (hayes, chilton, mitchell) specific for your car.this will have step by step instuctions for you to follow.also i would adjust the valves at this time.good luck and if you have anymore questions feel free to ask.