i am doing headgaskets on my 99 gt. i left the exhaust manifolds on the heads when i took them off and removed the dipstick in the process but i cannot get the dipstick back in when reassembling the heads onto the motor..IS THER A TRICK TO THIS???

 

Nope, just brute force. Try gripping it w/ pliers (but don't crush the tube).

 

The last time I looked in the FRPP catalog, the modular head gasket kit included a dipstick tube. The people that put the engine in the car didn't expect a dipstick tube to survive that repair.

 

Thinking about it something you should try (and something I should have as well) is to put the dipstick tube in the freezer and to carefully heat up where the tube goes into the block (keep the temperature low to prevent a pyro show).