92' Loyale Wagon Engine Rebuild

[J41YD3D.]

I'm currently rebuilding my ea82 out of my loyale. This will be the first engine I've ever rebuilt. It was supposed to be just a head gasket job but I thought if I pull the engine I might as well do it all while it's out. The task at the moment is tearing down the front of the engine. I set it to tdc with the three marks and I took the crank pulley off. Everything is still in time but when I was pulling the cam pulley on the driver's side I managed to knock it off time and I cannot put it back in time because the compression from the cylinder stops me from doing so. I don't really know what to do now, I had the idea of just continuing to spin it until the marks line up again but I'm not sure how many times I'd need to do that. I really have no clue where to continue from, can I get some help??

[DaveT]

Don't worry about it until you are ready to put it back together.   There are many threads on here, and videos on YouTube.   The timing mark on the flywheel is the middle l of 3 lll, not the 0 degrees mark.   Install one cam belt, with its pulley mark at the top, straight up, there is a notch in the back cover.   Then rotate the crank one full revolution,  and install the second belt the same way.  This puts the cams in a position where the valve springs are not trying to turn the cams.   After this, I run it for 5 seconds,  then reset the tension.  This gives the belts time to walk into where they are going to run.   The engine is non interference,  so if you get it wrong, it won't destroy itself, it just won't run well.   Before you go deeper,  be sure there is a reason.   If the engine has been reasonably cared for, oil changes, not severely overheated,  etc. 200k miles is not a big deal.

[el_freddo]

7 hours ago, DaveT said:

Then rotate the crank one full revolution,  and install the second belt the same way. 

^ This is the most important step in setting up the cam belts on the EA82. Skip it and your engine will only ever run on one bank “properly”, the other is just dead weight and the engine will be a gutless wonder that’s painful to start. 

Personally I’d just do the HGs and focus on getting that correct. Shave the heads to get the flat again, be meticulous in your mating surfaces cleaning. 

GD would probably recommend pulling the pistons and putting fresh rings in there (his first recommendation would be to move on to a later model platform as this one is dead by lack of available spares). 

I would no be splitting the block just because you pulled the engine out. It’s not a “might as well” job and it will rack up the money and effort required to get it back together and operational. 

Cheers 

Bennie 

[J41YD3D.]

2 hours ago, el_freddo said:

I would no be splitting the block just because you pulled the engine out. It’s not a “might as well” job and it will rack up the money and effort required to get it back together and operational. 

I didn't mention this before but the engine only has 156xxx on it, but your saying to just focus on the head gaskets? How long do the rings and bearings typically last? I'm guessing it's quite the process to split the block, should I worry about anything else while the motor is out? Thank you for your time. 

[J41YD3D.]

10 hours ago, DaveT said:

Don't worry about it until you are ready to put it back together.   There are many threads on here, and videos on YouTube.   The timing mark on the flywheel is the middle l of 3 lll, not the 0 degrees mark.   Install one cam belt, with its pulley mark at the top, straight up, there is a notch in the back cover.   Then rotate the crank one full revolution,  and install the second belt the same way.  This puts the cams in a position where the valve springs are not trying to turn the cams.   After this, I run it for 5 seconds,  then reset the tension.  This gives the belts time to walk into where they are going to run.   The engine is non interference,  so if you get it wrong, it won't destroy itself, it just won't run well.   Before you go deeper,  be sure there is a reason.   If the engine has been reasonably cared for, oil changes, not severely overheated,  etc. 200k miles is not a big deal.

I have another question, I was worried that I might mess something up removing the heads out of time. So I should be fine just removing the heads, and If so, can I turn the cam pulley back to where it is in time? Does I need to spin so many times before it's back in time? What's the process? I appreciate the help, thank you for your time. 

[DaveT]

Correct, just take it apart.  Be careful to remember where everything goes of course.   If you're new to this, take pictures of things, just in case.

You can turn the cams and crank any way you want, the pistons and valves cannot meet.  This is true for the EA82s, and a certain range of early EJ engines.   Newer stuff, not so.

IF any bolts are stuck -  which is pretty likely, unless the car has been in a desert environment most of it's life, the best way to NOT break them off is this -

Run it until it's at normal operating temp.  Shut it down.  Immediately go to the 6 intake manifold bolts and carefully work them loose.  Same with the EGR pipe between the head and intake on the passenger's side, behind the intake.  This helps with any of the other bolts also - the cam tower bolts, head bolts.  But those will take too long to get to.  A space heater and a heat gun will heat the block, but slower than running it.  I don't use a torch, the temp is too high, and the heat needs to be DEEP in the aluminum, not on the surface or the bolt.

Intake gaskets and the metal reinforced o rings for the oil channel to the cam - dealer only!

DO NOT use the crap intake gaskets from fel pro.

I've had good luck with Fel pro head gaskets.