Head gasket
 

So my 01 Pontiac grand am se v6, has a bad head gasket. I'm planning on buying a new water pump, as well as new header. Anything else or anything I should know before I rip and tear into it?

these are pretty well known for bad upper and lower manifold gaskets get the felpro aluminum ones to replace it. and make sure you check the head for warping

Don't mix the push rods....exhaust are longer......

Now would be a good time to change those rear plugs/wires(if necessary), thermostat, 0-ring at dummy distributor shaft(add paper gasket), flush coolant.....

Are you positive it is the head gasket, the heads on these cars tend to be able to take a serious amount of heat before warping, or having issues, the upper and lower intake manifolds are another story.
If you tackle those jobs, let me know and I'll post up some helpful links for you.

William, see a lot of head gaskets go on these engines(3.1/3.4's).......way more lower intake gaskets than head gaskets......but many times have seen just the lowers replaced, and then you end up doing the job all over again to replace a head gasket...

More often than not, the head gaskets go because people know they have a coolant leak, and just continually add coolant rather than fix the problem.....this leads to air pockets and overheating, which will eventually cause a head gasket problem.......it's been my experience, more often than not, to be #1 cylinder....

I thought we were talking about the 3.8L here?

"01 Pontiac grand am se v6"

Nope, Grand Am never got the 3.8 that i know of.

I have also read about cracked heads too, but I don't know if aluminum does that. Either way, look the heads over closely to ensure they are still fit for duty

Oh yeah, wasn't it 2.4 and 3.4?
That is what I get for trying to respond to a post before my coffee. :o
I seen v6 and all I thought of was 3.8