daeron Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 Okay, well, I am back from not having an internet connection.... AND I have achieved my headgasket change with minimal complications. I brought my camera with me the whole time, and took in excess of 200 photographs over th course of the entire process (including duplicate shots trying different angles and lighting.) I spent one day up at the shop tearing her apart, another day I did a little cleaning and decided that since I could get it done for free, I wanted to mill the heads. They each had a slight high spot in between the combustion chambers, and needed 0.005" taken off both. The head on the GOOD side had one worrisome crack between the valves, but it still narrowly passed the fingernail check. The other combustion chambers did have small cracks between the valves, with the most significant being the other chamber on the "good" side. Unfortunately, the day I went up and assembled everything, I totally blanked on grabbing my camera. I WAS planning on writing up the entire process as "How to change the headgaskets without pulling the engine for the compleat idiot" but since I neglected to bring the camera for the most important stage, I am unsure. I even got about ten minutes of (silent) video of my buddy milling the heads.. I put everything together in one day's work session, got it to a point with no radiator or drivebelts, and tried starting it. She fired right up on the first shot, as soon as i touched the gas pedal with my foot.. I was tickled pink. I literally let out a guttural scream of victory Reinstalling the ditributor was a little tricky, as it had previously been clocked 90 degrees off.. when I lined the engine up, lined the disty up, and dropped it in, it was pointing at the #3 spark plug on the cap rather than the #1.... I spent about thirty minutes making sure I was doing the right thing, and changed all my sprak plug wires to correspond.. When I installed the wires, they ALL fit MUCH better than they had previously, so I was confident I had done the right thing. I am still uncertain as to whether I still have my odd cold running issue that was causing my problem.. The night I put it together I couldn't fiddle with the timing because I forgot the exhaust manifold gaskets, I had no timing light so I would have had to do it by ear, and it was too late to make that much noise. The only problem I encountered during the ENTIRE disassembly was on each side, one exhaust stud pulled out with the nut instead of the nut unscrewing from the stud. EVERYthing else came apart wonderfully easy, and I labeled it all well enough that it was a breeze to reassemble. I had some old sheet-feed printer labels and a colored set of sharpie markers that helped with that :cool: I used ultra copper RTV for the cam case to cylinder head seal, I hope that was a good choice... Another odd thing, as I was re assembling, I suddenly noticed that the bloody intake manifold sits on the engine TOTALLY crooked.. Then I looked closer, and realized an entire cylinder bank was slighty further forward than the other. In retrospect, I suppose a flat engine HAS to be laid out like that, but it hadn't occurred to me before. *DUH* (we really need a "slap on the forehead" smiley) As you may have guessed from the subject line, my engine was COVERED in oil and gunk... it was disgusting. I cleaned a TON of sand and oil off of the shortblock while everything was out, and hot-tanking the cylinder heads REALLY made them shine. I only got a few fotos of the heads after being milled and cleaned though, the machine shop was dim and I was waiting until the next day (when the camera was forgotten) to get shots in the sunlight, and under the low fluorescents at my shop where I knew I could get good light and not need the flash. I also managed to get photographs of the turbochargers that we have in storage, as well as a bunch of first gen headlight bucket setups, a small hitachi 2 bbl carb, some seatbelts, some first gen radiators, an older gen gauge pod, and one passenger side XT power sideview mirror.. I think a few other things too.. ALL of this is NOS, NIB subaru stuff that we need to move. I will be posting in the classifieds about all that soon.. it is GREAT merchandise in perfect (i mean perfect) condition, so I want to get decent prices on it.... BUT selling it is as important as making much money off of it. Oh yah, while I am at it.. I ditched the front timing belt covers a LONG time ago. While I was putting the car back together, I neglected to install the rear timing belt covers... is that a problem???? (bear in mind that by losing my front covers I have staked my own position on the entire timing belt cover debate... ) ONE of the belts (the driver side) lost it's sticker indicating direction of travel, so I am unsure that it went on right.. Plus, they got taken off after 40K and re installed, so in MY mind, my timing belts are now a potential failure point. I want to keep my eyes on them. The cam case O rings I was so stressed out over I simply replaced with proper sized O rings... the ones in my engine were not metal reinforced, and one WAS kinked in a little.. again, on the "GOOD" head. I also discovered that one of the bolts holding the front cam cover (I can't remember what its actually called, the front retainer for the camshaft underneath the pulley) was missing on the "good" side too. The headgaskets themselves didn't REALLY look all that bad, but since I showed the compression differential that I had, with such a crack in the "good" head, I am not too concerned. I never did get around to a leak down test, though... by the time I actually got to working on the car I was far too impatient to let anything get in my way. Time shall tell if I regret that impatience.... but the bubbling into the radiator overflow has stopped. That tells me that the gaskets were needed in any case. Anybody considering doing this job, should. The ratcheting 10mm box wrench is DEFINITELY a must-have to do it in the engine, though... without that, and an air ratchet to spin the head bolts in and out to clean the threads, this job would have taken about three hours longer than it did. I mean that. Thank GOD for harbor freight, right???? The craftsman wrneches are absurdly expensive, even though they ARE really nice. Anyhow, if you have the tools, and you are thinking about trying to do this, chances are it is well within your scope. I will update the thread with some fotos.. how do I attach them as thumbnails, so I can just post like 20 or so without making everyone wait for them all to load? Yah, this was a book of a post... but i've been without internet for this entire process. I know you have missed me :-p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joostvdw Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 awesome man! I'm really glad everything worked out for you, since you were all bummed out before it's good to see you happy again have you had time to enjoy your work and drive around in it? without worrying about topping off the coolant ? If you haven't driven it, go do it now, it's the most enjoyable fase of working on your own car, driving around in it knowing it's YOU who fixed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted March 9, 2007 Author Share Posted March 9, 2007 awesome man! I'm really glad everything worked out for you, since you were all bummed out before it's good to see you happy again have you had time to enjoy your work and drive around in it? without worrying about topping off the coolant ? If you haven't driven it, go do it now, it's the most enjoyable fase of working on your own car, driving around in it knowing it's YOU who fixed it. LOL, I have no gas or gas money. Youre right though... I have been UBER stressed for the last month, and things are coming to a head in a number of ways.. but the car was total positivity. I had just let everything ELSE get the better of me. I need to do some test driving sometime today, though. will update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyale 2.7 Turbo Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 ... I will update the thread with some fotos.. how do I attach them as thumbnails, so I can just post like 20 or so without making everyone wait for them all to load?... Yes!... Pics Please. To post Thumbnails, Get a Free Photobucket (or other free Image Hostin´ Website) Account, and do Copy / Paste the Thumbnails it Displays of your Uploaded images. Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted March 12, 2007 Author Share Posted March 12, 2007 Allright, BUMP. Anyone who would care to watch the slideshow of all the images I uploaded to my photobucket, clicky Here are a few (okay, a bunch) of images.. there are more where these came from, if anyone wants, and I have high res versions on my PC if you would for some reason like me to email something... Proper labelling is a must when taking your engine apart.. My engine was FILTHY, look beyond the intake manifold... dirty longblock: A little nonsense, now and then, is relished by the wisest men.... NSFW!! (you can see her CAMSHAFT!!! ) THIS was the killer photo I got, illustrating how IMPOSSIBLE it is to change the headgaskets with the engine still in the car WITHOUT a ratcheting box-socket wrench to remove the rocker cover bolts!!! ESPECIALLY the driver's side, hindmost one! sorry it is such a fuzzy and dark foto, but it is what I could do: Look at the rocker covers, my friends.... THAT is some road grime, right there. More good engine teardown technique, the rocker arms and HLA's should be retained like this so you know where to put them back in. after running seafoam in my crankcase for 3,000 miles, and draining that out less than 500 miles ago, I expected to see less varnishing than this: Why should you run antifreeze instead of water? THAT is why, look at all that rust!!! Fruits of my labor, day one! I got started about six hours later than I had planned, but I still finished the tear-down by the end of day one, WOO HOO! Not TOO awful-looking.. (the old gaskets are resting on the heads in the first one) Cleaned up a tad... Cleaned firing deck, decided to machine them... A little degreaser works wonders!! Okay, more images in part 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted March 12, 2007 Author Share Posted March 12, 2007 The milling machine cutting the head... Milled clean. Intake valves?? I'll show you intake valves!! the "small" one is out of a big block chevy, and the other one is from some sort of tractor engine or something. Its a conversation piece at the machine shop Don't make me use this... Fresh outta de hot tank!! A Tale Of Two Cylinder Heads... It was the best of quench, it was the worst of quench..... on the left is a cylinder head (DOHC) out of "an STi engine," per my friend.. no clue which one, but I had to get a shot or two of them side by side.. OKAY, there are MORE photos on the photobucket account, and I have two videos of the milling process as well. They are kinda boring and dark, but if there is any interest I can post them, too.. I just DONT BELIEVE I forgot my camera on assembly day. I haven't been so proud as I was looking at the complete, clean, reassembled longblock without the intake, EVER in my life. I wanted to get nice low angle shots of the clean rocker covers.. etc. As it was, I didn't even get a good daylight shot of the clean, milled heads!! O well. I also forgot to get a good photo of the place where the cam case O ring goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted March 12, 2007 Author Share Posted March 12, 2007 Here is a shot taken from the back side of the engine.. Now that its all back together, this is the best angle to see how clean the engine came together. TOTALLY different beast to work on, now.. and here, the rocker covers do indeed say SUBARU: Sorry to anyone on dialup for all the photos, but my original plan involved a detailed write-up, and since I forgot the camera for assembly, that has more or less faded away in my mind.. so the pics had to get posted, or they were worthless... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregvdd Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 nice job and nice 280z ! I have a 71 240z Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted March 12, 2007 Author Share Posted March 12, 2007 you dont KNOW how nice that 280Z is.. 40K on the chassis, CHERRY CONDITION..... a guy we know turbo'd it like, 12-15 years ago, then took it halfway apart.. and my uncle got it, and he passed it on to my dad. The old man just slapped his 2.8L motor out of his old 240 racecar into it, with a 4 bbl on it.. "easy button" and then he blew that motor up THAT car needs attention very badly, because it is SOO worth it!! it is probably one of the nicest Zs left in the country, bar none... especially if you are talking unrestored only, because she doesnt NEED any restoration. The doors close with a single finger push, and sound like brand new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyale 2.7 Turbo Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 daeron: Nice Photos, and Nice Job Done too... Congratulations! Thanx for Sharin´ Pictures of the Process, it can Help very Much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky92 Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 Wow what a difference!I so wish I had the time and /or tools to do all that I really want to to my cars. Lots of hard work you did there..congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 Thank GOD for harbor freight, right???? The craftsman wrneches are absurdly expensive, even though they ARE really nice. simple. go to a pawnshop,buy a set of craftsman wrenches.If one breaks just take it to your local sears and you get a new one for free! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingbobdole Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 I saw the Z too... looks awesome, its one of my many second loves. Isn't it nice to work on a clean engine now? I was mine all the time to keep it looking nice and easy to work on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted March 13, 2007 Author Share Posted March 13, 2007 I have tried gunking this thing, but the absurd amount of sand and oil that had built up just shook the gunk off like water off a duck's back. The cylinder heads, I spent about an hour cleaning before I concluded that I was going to have them milled (and hot-tanked.) The block, however, I cleaned first with some brake cleaner, then I stuffed some bags into the cylinders and oil.water passages and just sprayed the whole engine bay down with concentrated degreaser, scrubbed it with a brush, sprayed some more, and then a water rinse. The shortblock and crossmember got VERY clean, at least up on top.. except for where the power steering pump was mounted. I didn't remove that until I was replacing the cam cases onto the cylinder heads.. which was foolish. I had NO way of clearing the steering lines with the cam case in hand, without bumping the rockers or HLAs and getting RTV on them... Really, a good thorough engine cleaning like this only requires the removal of the intake manifold, alternator, AC compressor (just dangling, I didnt disconnect any lines) and the steering pump. I mean, yah, thats a good four hours work at least for most of us, but as many times as I have had all that stuff off the engine already, I wish I had done the scaling of the crud sooner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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