Head off...what else?

[badboyr6]

hey guys I decided to do my valve springs and timing belt, I couldn't get the springs out to change the valve stems so I took the head off the car. I then took the head to the machine shop and had it resurficed, new seals and the whole shabang! I grabbed some sea foam and put some on my pistons and I tried to clean up the engine area as best as I could. Do you guys recommend anything? I have all new belts ready to put on and a new waterpump. Also when I took off the timing belt case at the bottom, I found my balance belt broken, is that bad?

 

[blcknspo0ln]

clean the crap out of your block surface and make sure the dowel pins are still there

 

[ozzie_1978]

Get a balance shaft eliminator kit

 

[RoasT BeeF]

If the balancer belt was broken it just means your engine was vibrating more than it should have been. Wont hurt anything. Put a new one on and make sure the shafts are in phase.

 

[b-morr]

Throw some ARP's on that! Make sure the block surface is cleaned. What kind of head gasket are you putting on?

 

[1992awdlaser]

If the balancer belt was broken it just means your engine was vibrating more than it should have been.

I was wandering this a while ago and searched on Dsmlink forums. This is the post I remembered.

"Consensus is that it sucks.

It's cheap, dirty and doable much like the chubby girl at the end of the night, but it's bad for a number of reasons just like the chubby. I'll explain...

The front balance shaft is belt driven, the rear shaft is integrated into the oil pump. Removing the belt only makes things vibrate, this does and will loosen up bolts. Many of those bolts are important. You can feel if a balance shaft belt is broken just by sitting in a car at idle, you can really tell about 3000 rpm. Those who say it's not that bad aren't quite right if you ask me.

Removing the rear shaft and replacing it with the stubby shaft or a turned down shaft is preferred. You can do this with the engine in the car. This frees up three things: some hp, some oil pressure is gained and you'll no longer live in fear of having that rear bearing back there seize up. Odds are when it seizes, it'll take out a rod bearing and other important stuff too.

Leaving the front shaft in is where alot of people live though. After removing the rear shaft, cutting the balance belt is tempting, very easy and you won't fight the vibration issue as much. It's still bad though, even worse. Cutting that belt for the front shaft gains you only two things: frees up some more hp and even less fear of catastrophic engine damage. No oil pressure is gained here; this is where it gets important and is why you shouldn't do it.

That front balance shaft has two bearing surfaces on it. The front bearing surface, by the sprocket, has a groove all the way around it constantly losing oil pressure. This bearing surface always has lost some pressure though, it is designed to flow that way and is accounted for by the DSM Gods.

It's the rear bearing surface that's got chubby chick all over it. It has an oil groove that is only cast into half of the bearing surface. If the balance shaft is always sitting so that the groove is up on the oil galley, you're constantly losing oil pressure on that galley. Your oil system was not designed for that to happen like that. It was designed to spin X times crank rpm and this allowed for a set oil pressure and flow drop at that point. Now the bad news is that your crank thrust bearing is fed from that very same oil galley. Now the bad news is that your crank thrust bearing is fed from that very same oil galley. Now the bad news is that your crank thrust bearing is fed from that very same oil galley. So it's 50/50 on whether leaving your front balance shaft in is gonna cost you a crankshaft or not at some point. Do ya feel lucky? 50/50 is probably about the same as whether or not your friends catch you with the chubby. You'll remember a crank and that chubby for a long time, if you know what I mean.

Do it right."

 

[badboyr6]

I got the head back today and I cleaned the surface real well, I also installed it back on. I got the headgasket kit with all the seals for the head from napa, its a felpro metal layered gasket. I still have to put all the vacum hose lines on and add the brand new belts, so its going to be a couple days before I complete the job. Anyone got any hints on timing? I have the marks for the cams aligned and the oil pump aligned but I dont know what else I need to align. Once I put it all back together do I just hit the key and start it? Or do I need to use a timing light? Thanks

 

[RoasT BeeF]

You should read this to make sure you have all the timing marks correct, and the balance shafts in phase.

http://www.vfaq.com/mods/timingbelt-1G.html

You may need a timing light when you're done to set base timing.

Engine Timing

 

[TheBagelGuy]

theres a little mark on the crank gear that you need to line up with a little mark on the block and after you get the belt installed turn it over by hand 6 times and see if its still in time before you try to start it. theres not really any need for a timing light.

 

[badboyr6]

I already installed the head so now I just have to connect all my hoses and do the timing. I'll let you guys know how the end result is or if I have a problem. Thanks