Take a few pics of the skirts. That would be the most important part to determine condition. Worst case scenario if the cylinders are too big, you can find another block that is still standard bore with cleaner cylinders.

You could just take it to a local machine shop and have them test it also, and do a liquid test on it.I made my setup. I have a few different ones for different heads. I just use a piece of 1/4 plate steel, drill a hole in it and tap the hole with a npt tap. Than i thread a barbed fitting...

That is a different type of test than what i do. That seems like there is constant vacuum being pulled and wouldn't verify a small leak. I use a hand held vacuum pump with a gauge and pull a vacuum than let it sit for 10 seconds to see if they are leaking down or not. Watch this video and notice...

The only possibility would be if there happened to be debris between the valve and seat that was preventing the valve from closing all the way.

If the valve height was wrong than it would seal with the cams out. I have seen my fair share of bad valve jobs on these heads. Any good shop should vacuum test.

Defiantly do a leakdown test with the cams removed. They should of vacuum tested the valves before it was ever sent to you.

Did you read my reply, it isn't the same block, it is a smaller bore, and a slightly shorter deck height. You likely will not be able to bore it 4mm larger, that is quite a bit. I would just look for another 4g63 block.

What do you mean?

The 4g67 has the same stroke, but a smaller bore. The 4g63 is a 85mm bore, the 4g67 is a 81.5mm bore. Basically same crank, but smaller bore.

I would be more worried about the oil pump than the timing pullies if the tension was too tight.

Did this noise just start after the belt change? A new bearing should make no noise at all. Are you sure that you don't have anything rubbing inside the timing cover?

The 2g timing plate is totally different with a different timing mark location. You need to get the right parts and stop guessing. What cams are you running. I see no way for the cams to be defective to cause this. You need to get the correct timing plate, verify that the key on the crank pulley...

You either have the lifters pumped up, too tall of valve height, or you are continuing to set the timing wrong. It is possible that you either have the plate on the crank with the timing mark backwards, or the wrong one.

Do you plan on using a degree wheel and dial bore to set the cams?

Looks kind of like the bores were out of round. You didn't mix up and rod caps or main caps by chance? Also there is not enough bearing damage there to really cause knocking at this point.

Which materials are on these engines are far from an old v8? It is way more similar than you think. The reason for different clearances is because of size of the journals. Bigger journal, bigger clearance. There is nothing different about these engines that would make them require assembly lube...

Any mls will hold the power, you just need the right finish on both surfaces for it to seal.

Unless you plan on pulling the whole thing apart and cleaning all the oil passages i wouldn't even consider doing this. One stray piece of metal can ruin the head.

You still won't get it all out doing this. The balls must be removed.No, you should be fine without re balancing.

You will never get it all out doing that. You will literally need a drill bit to get all the gunk out of there. For the amount of money people invest in their engines, something as simple as removing the balls and cleaning the passages is pretty cheap insurance. You would be very surprised how...

Spraying the ball with cleaner will not do anything. They need to be removed and the passages cleaned. About the only effective way to get them out is with a tig welder.

Removing the balls in the crank oil passages is so important in these engines. Most engines are just straight thru drilling that don't require that, but with these if you don't clean the crank passages they will likely eat bearings.

Looks like the oil passages in the crank were not cleaned and you have a bunch if debris in there.

I would have no problem using those.

It shouldn't' be leaking at all from the valves if this is a freshly rebuilt head. You should only be leaking at the rings. I would still pull it and have the valves and seats done properly.

Did either of these machine shops actually do a vacuum test on the valves?

I wouldn't send the car to a transmission shop without the timing belt on it. What happens if one of the tech's not knowing that it is an interference engine cranks it over? I assume that they will probably want to test drive it after the install also.

Are you planning on building a different short block before you step up to the 600 hp range? Some have taken the stock bottom end that far, but a perfect tune is mandatory.

This doesn't tell me anything about how much power you are trying to make on this current engine. What turbo are you planning on running on this engine and about how much horsepower are you expecting?

Machine shop advise, you have to love it. Did you ask him 20 psi on what turbo? Doubt he even knows the difference. What kind of power are you trying to make. Likely the oem cast pistons and rings will be just fine for your application.

I had a similar issue with a local machine shop. They were the best in the area when it comes to block work, balancing, and surfacing, but their valve guy is just awful. I took a head in for new guides and a valve job. When i got it back i went to do a vacuum test on the valves, no seal...

I could see maybe wet sanding with 1500 or 2000 grit on a block with very light pressure, but a roll lock on aluminum is a good way to make it not seal with a mls gasket.

There are n/a 7 bolt 4g64's here in the states. They can be found in hyundai sonata's.

If it is losing coolant but not leaking than it is an internal leak or crack. There should be no guessing on whether or not the head is cracked. If you take it to a good machine shop than they can pressure test it and find out if it is cracked or not. If you don't find a crack with the pressure...

I hope that you have those rod caps numbered.

I don't think that would make the car run real bad, but i would for sure do a leakdown test to find out where you are leaking.

You make a very simple task seem like it is very hard. Installing a converter is probably one of the easiest things that can be done. Takes literally 30 seconds at the most.

You definetly want to replace those pistons. That is one of the thinnest parts of the piston there. With gouges like that I would be willing to bet that they are cracked and very severely weakened. I would at the bare minimum pull it apart, hone the cylinders and install new pistons rings and...

The rods weren't bent because of a lack of oil, they were bent from too high of cylinder pressure, likely from detonation.

I see a ton of people saying that the hole is fine. Why is the hole fine, why doesn't the dohc engine have this hole? Why is it just assumed that the hole is fine. What is wrong with welding the hole shut. By welding it shut makes it the same as the dohc housing. Assumption, assumptions...

The problem that see is that you have less facts than him, you are making more assumptions than he is. He brought up a real good point about this housing and ran a test which showed different results. This should bring up concern to most people. Instead of bashing the guy, calling him stupid and...

The way I see it is that the guy brought up a good question with hands on information to back up bringing it up. He has before and after results. The guy for, ffwd came in and said all is fine and everyone is nut swinging on him because he knows all. That seems to be the common mentality around...

Of coarse pressure goes up with a bse, everyone knows that. You can just port the relief hole like people have been doing for many years. If you take your time to read thru the thread you will see that he is not the only person experiencing this.

Oil is already being relieved back to the pan by the oil relief valve in the filter housing.

Of coarse I realize that. I am saying that because those holes which are smaller and way further away from the pump and see a lower volume and pressure than the ofh are releasing quite a bit of oil. Now imagine how much a hole double the size with 3x the pressure and volume will flow.

You should check out the oil bleed holes in the cylinder head. With the valve cover off they will spray oil ten feet in the air pretty easily with a nice size stream. These holes are smaller than the hole being talked about here. These are what keeps the oil pressure in the head lower than in...

You should be able to rent a setup like that at any parts store that has rental tools.

An internal puller with a slide hammer like this, http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_14671.jpg

The lower bolt is the one that will be missing and is very important in holding the bellhousing to the block properly without the front lower bolt and dowel you will very likely break the bellhousing off the trans.