Removed Head and More Surprises

[SkyGrowsCold]

I finally finished up with removing the cylinder head from the car and snapped some more photos to add to this update. In the process of removing the head I found an array of mismatched bolts, more interesting wiring (including one wire wrapped in tin foil, maybe an attempt to shield it from heat?), and bolts that were scary loose along with some that seemed to be put on by Hercules. When I picked up my car the previous owner was telling me how the engine had about 126 or so miles on the rebuild and the timing components were replaced during the rebuild. From everything I had found on the car I was already mentally prepared for surprises.

I had already seen the timing belt had a groove and planned on replacing it and on ordering a new oil pan bolt kit prior to the car not starting and finding I had bent valves little did I know the extent of the random timing belt related destruction I would find. Lets start by saying I was pleasantly surprised to find the auto tensioner looked to be brand new, excellent so far so good, pulleys looked new as well as the balance shaft belt. Lets take a look at the timing belt cover.

As you might be able to see the pulley and timing belt wore into the cover and made some nice grooves. Did this happen after the motor was rebuilt, previous to the build, possibly purchased used from someone? I'll probably never know regardless looks like I'll have to purchase a new/used timing belt cover to replace this mess.

Looking over the cylinder head there was certainly one obviously bent valve while the rest, judging by a quick glance looked to be alright but the pistons told a different story showing where all the valves on the intake side had removed the carbon showing they got intimate. Adding to my findings was some nice anti freeze hanging out in cylinder two. I still can't believe I was actually able to drive this car most of the way home and can only imagine the potential it has when put back together. The cams in the head removed from the car seem different from the cams currently in my spare head (possibly after market or regrinds maybe from a different year car) I won't know until I check the ends and see if there are any markings revealing their identity. I'll leave off with some photos of the pistons, head and the hopes of visiting my friends shop with the hopes he is not to busy to check the heads over and recommend weather I should use either of them or look for a new one all together.

 

[tkstoygsx]

Sucks that it happened but atleast now you will have a fresh engine (again)... are your plans OEM or aftermarket items?

 

[SkyGrowsCold]

Plans right now are to use the spare head I had laying around (dropped it off the machine shop Saturday) and just do a stock rebuild on it. Once the car is up and running I'll look at possibly upgrading the valvetrain of the other head and maybe doing some port work. It all really depends on how the car responds to the stock rebuild. Thats only a later project though I have a few other things that need attention before building another head.

 

[bring_1]

Thats kind of how my car was when i bought it. First time i pulled my engine there were only 3 bolts in the bell housing, the two holding the starter and the one near the front transmission mount. I had no choice but to tear down the entire engine/trans. More of the same there, missing bolts, mis-matched, lose, and the always fun on the knuckles, the super tight ones as well, but now i must say i know a lot more about my car and am at least certain that all the bolts are there.