Head Removal In Car Write Up

bluemonkey

New member
Oh, I'll re-upload them when I get home. Would a small zip tie fit on the tensioner like you said? If not, maybe I'll pull some fish line through it and zip tie that. The timing belt will probably be zip tied to something as well. I don't want to have to go further into taking it apart since I'm doing this at an apt. complex lol. I'm going to take the plunge tomorrow so wish me luck and post any advice as I'll probably be going online to check the BGB for details that I may have skipped since I just went in after reading over but not actually following the directions since its in the car and I don't want to take off anything I don't have to.
 

tw2

New member
bluemonkey":1stmpkfj said:
Would a small zip tie fit on the tensioner like you said?
Maybe a large one, I used string, fishing line would work well. When I did it I loosened the pulley bolt 1-2mm to fit the string around it and pulled it forwards quite hard before tying it off. Before discovering this trick it was not a lot of fun. Just make sure you torque it back up correctly if you do decide to do it that way.

Rick89GTS":1stmpkfj said:
Great write-up :D Kudos!
Thanks
 

tw2

New member
Wow thats pretty clean. What cams are those? I find photobucket is easiest for pics, then just copy the code it gives you with
 

bluemonkey

New member
I think they're stock, where you talking about the cam gear of camshaft? I'll take a picture of the cam gears if you want to check them out. I'll also look for any markings on the cam shafts.

Time to go outside and chop off the braces and undo the belt, then the studs and take a peek.
 

bluemonkey

New member
Lots of progress today. Spent most of the day working on it. I wasn't able to remove the intake head bolt closet to the cam gear with the tool I had, so I picked up a set that were longer since the socket was hitting the head. I removed the head and there wasn't any breaks or tears in the headgasket but it was worn a bit next to one of the cylinders. I had to use like 80b/ft torque to remove the headbolts. I got the new gasket in there and put the head bolts on but then I noticed the intake cam gear had moved. I tried re-aligning it but I ended up with both of them off. I set the car to TDC and put the belt on it. Tomorrow I'll finish cleaning up the turbo parts and then after work I'll try to install everything, doubt it since I have plans. As it stands I need, whole turbo assembly, alternator & bracket, downpipe, radiator, exhaust, not sure if I'm missing something but I bet I am.
 

tw2

New member
Great progress, I thought the cams looked not quite stock but I haven't seen stock 3sgte cams in a long time.
 

bluemonkey

New member
I didn't take a break in the process to take pictures but its all complete minus bolting up the midpipe and axle back section. I paint my exhaust manifold, intercooler, and downpipe to freshen up my bay and they look great. I need to clean up the strut bar when I get a chance though. Tomorrow, I'll go buy some oil and coolant and start her up wish me luck.
 

bluemonkey

New member
stupid car is still burning oil and coolant, more coolant than oil though. I'm thinking that I may have a cracked head... :cry: :cry:
 

tw2

New member
Crap that really sucks. Were both the block and head milled the first time round? Do a compression test, that will tell you if there is a crack going into a combustion chamber I would have thought. You would have to be pretty unlucky to get a crack allowing both coolant and oil into the combustion chamber. Turbo seals etc would be much more likely.
 

bluemonkey

New member
Yeah they both got the whole 9 yards. The head was rebuilt and the block got cleaned, bored, and honed.

The battery is relocated into the trunk but it was a job done poorly by the previous owner where 1/9 of every time you tried to turn it on, the starter would just click. This is on a fresh starter and battery that both tested good. I re-did the ground for the battery and it was a lot better today. I dismissed previous compression test because they were on a cold motor with crappy battery connection. I'll have to try again tomorrow.

The turbo could be the problem though, I ran it for a little bit before swapping the head, took off all the intake piping, before and after the turbo and cleaned it. I put everything back on, ran it for a minute or two, there was a little bit of oil infront of the turbo, there was a small puddle on the turbo to the first coupler connecting to the intercooler and a small amount in the TB.

I noticed there was a BUNCH of black gunk inside the intake manifold, I'm guessing from oil coming out the turbo. I'll have to pull it off and go get it inspected and go from there.

The car starts up fine but won't hold idle at all when its cold. Once it warms up, it'll try and hold idle. The needle bounces between 500-600 so I'm guessing I should set the throttle cable to open it up a bit more and try again.
 
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