TajMan

How well do the timing marks line up? I've re-done it at least five times trying to get them lined up perfectly. I get the crank pulley and that other pulley lined up but the cam pulley doesn't line up inbetween the two dots. The top of the head lines up with one of the dots, if I move it another full tooth I think it will be farther off than it is now. Is this normal? Do the marks ever line up exactly or are they off a little? I can turn the crank with a wrench and it turns freely, no valves hitting pistons, and the distributor shows its firing the #1 cylinder like it should. I just hate doing timing belts on cars because you never know if your going to destroy the engine or if it will run untill you get it all back together and start it. :roll:

Well tomorrow I'll weld two nails to a piece of angle iron and try that. :)

So do you have to buy that special wrench to tension the pulley? I'm trying to put my new timing belt on right now.

What do you use to tension the timing belt? The tensioneer pulley has two holes in it, it looks like you need a special tool to hold it tight while you tighten the bolt. I've almost got it back together guys, just need a little more help.

Got the head back from the machine shop! Check it out it looks awesome. (copy and paste in new window) http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... g.orig.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... g.orig.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... g.orig.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... g.orig.jpg (I've tried attatching pics but its never worked.)

So Henny what about that lip on the top of the cylinders? Here's what I did to it today. Oh swapping dashboards is so much fun. :roll: (copy and past in new window) http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... g.orig.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... g.orig.jpg *mod edit - Pics added and thumbnailed for you - Henny*

Here's a pic I just took of myself with my new camera. Face a little cold from just riding a motorcycle. :)

Thanks Henny, that was very helpful! How much lip is there supposed to be at the top of the cylinder walls? It did look kind of big to me. How far down from the top of the piston are the rings in this car? What causes it to be bigger? Yeah you already helped me with that 39 inch long hose, replaced it and it made a big difference. Do any other vacuum hoses cause dramitic performance problems if broken? I'll get a new tensioner for the timing belt, but I also noticed something else. The back side of the serpentine belt is worn at an angle on one side and there are bumps on the two idler pulley's that touch the back side of the belt, feels like melted on plastic/rubber. I'm going to have to sand those idler pulleys or something to keep them from wearnig on the back side of the belt again. I wonder if something else is wearing it somehow.

The head is out! All in all I think the engine looks pretty good, what do you guys think? Try copying and pasting the picture links into another browser window, sorry imagestation sucks. Is it normal to see some "oil stains" or places where the oil is kind of baked on under the valve cover? http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... g.orig.jpg Here you can see the four broken exhaust manifold bolts. You can also see where the gaskets were missing and the exhaust was badly leaking. http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... g.orig.jpg You can still see the factory crosshatch on the cylinder walls! (Head gasket still on in that pic.) http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... g.orig.jpg I broke the supercharger steel braided oil line during removal. I just bent it a little and it snapped inside. I also need a new valve cover gasket, don't have one of those and mine broke. There are lots of cloth braided vaccume lines that look pretty bad, I'll try to replace all of those too. I just bought a new timing belt and serpentine belt for it as well, the ones in there are pretty bad. *edit* I just dropped the head off at the machine shop. They are going to completely disassemble and clean everything, new valve guides, new valve grinds and resurfacing of the head, tap out four broken exhaust studs (one of them actually has to have a hole "electricly burned" into it and removed because it has a broken ez-out in it from the mechanic I dropped it off at before), and they'll install 8 new exhaust studs. They're also getting me a valve cover gasket that I need, all the other gaskets to put it back together I already have (Well... except for those rubber o-ring gaskets for the two plastic waternecks attatched to the block, where can I get those?). Total cost at the machine shop will be $360 USD. BTW are these non-interferance engines? Looks like head will be at machine shop for a week and in the meantime I will swap out the damaged dashboard with a new one I got. After the head goes back it looks like I'll be almost ready to sell. If anyone is interested its a black '90 G60 with 150K miles, freshly rebuilt supercharger, rebuilt head, tons of new gaskets / hoses / belts, new dash & CD player, in Utah, USA -- looking for about $3,000 USD :wink: *mod edit - I've edited the photos and hosted 'em here too so people are more likely to see them... - Henny*

Hey thanks for those torque specs. I've almost got the head out, wasn't a bad job at all. I just need to find TDC. I couldn't find any marks to line up or anything, any help?

I'm almost ready to pull the head off, you guys were right its not a bad job, I just need to find TDC. I couldn't find any marks to line up, can anybody help me? Kind sucks, I guess they don't have a Corrado repair manual available in the U.S. (at least none that I could find).

Mind posting those specs?

What are the torque specs (ft-lbs) of the head bolts? I can't find any repair manuals or specs here. How long of a job is it for a first timer on these cars? I did a head gasket on a '87 CRX and between the gasket being REALLY blown and stuck on and some broken exhaust manifold bolts as well I ended up spending practly six days doing it. Is this one going to be faster or slower? Oh yeah I have to go buy the right tool for those head bolts. I never have the right tools for these dang VW's, I do everything by hand with those little allen wrenches. :lol:

Well I've got the car back at home and I have a new headgasket, head bolts, exhaust gaskets, and intake manifold gasket. Gonna start tearin into it. Hopefully all goes at least moderately smooth. :roll:

Awww c'mon. OK, how much is the engine worth? Tranny? Supercharger? Interior?

I need to decide what to do with my car. Options: 1. Sell it as is (broken exhaust manifold bolts so bad exhaust leak). 2. Spend even more time and money taking the head out to tap the bolts out and get new headgasket and all that stuff. I also have a new dash to replace my messed up one and various other things to fix. 3. Part it out. Its got a good engine, average tranny (could use new syncros), ok supercharger (just rebuilt myself, seems to boost just fine now), everything else is pretty good. If I pull the engine I can tap out the broken exhaust manifold bolts. How much can I make parting it out? I've got probably $2,500 in the car right now and I just want to make at least that much back. Anybody want it right now for $2,500? Its got 150K miles. What's the best decision money-wise?

Yeah I just ordered a complete head set for $90. Uh, how bad is driving the car with the exhaust manifold completely off? I've never heard exhaust so loud in my life, it was bad. About half way to the shop I realy started feeling uneasy about it. The car had no power and it started running really bad, I assume because the o2 sensor wasn't reading the exhaust. I think I'll just tow it back from the shop.

Yep looks like I'll be taking mine off too. I already got the exhaust downpipe and manifold off and it was a bitch. Four of my eight exhaust manifold bolts were broken off in the head and the shop couldn't tap them out with the head in the car so it looks like another big tearin' into the engine job for me. :roll:

I took it to a shop to get the bolts tapped out. They can't do it with the head in the car. They quoted $600 to remove the head, tap the bolts out, and reinstall it. I've got two options, remove the head and do it myself, or just put the exhaust manifold back on and sell the car as-is with an exhaust leak. I guess three options, i could part the car out too. I'm just trying make my money back that I've put into this thing. What do you guys think would be best financially out of those options? How hard is it to remove the head on these cars? How much is a headgasket and any other gaskets, etc. that I will need?

How do you get the exhaust manifold out of the car? I have it unbolted but I can't get it through the hole that I got the downpipe out of, there's too many frame/suspension components in the way. Can you get it out without taking the intake manifold off and bringing it up out the top? Do you think any shop would be able to tap the bolts out while the head/engine is still in the car?

My G60 had a bad exhaust leak at the manifold and I finally got around the fixing it. I got the downpipe and exhaust manifold off now and here's my problem. Of the eight exhaust manifold studs, four are broken/missing!!! Three were already gone when I started taking it off, and one stud sheared off when I removed it. I need to somehow tap out possibly four stud and install new ones and I don't know if it can be done with the engine/head in the car. Anybody know, what should I use? The whole thing may be rusted a little too. BTW does it have an alluminum head or is it steel? Am I screwed or what?

Well I replaced the hose. Supposed to be 39 inches long and guess how long it was.......... 28 inches! Car has never run better while its been in my posession. :D Much thanks to you guys. I've still got a bunch of work to do but the car is getting close..... BTW how the heck do you get that hose back on the ECU easily? Luckily my hands were small enough to squeeze in there and barely get it but it was tight. The car has a bad exhaust leak on the manifold. I can see that one of the studs is missing/broken off inside the head. Do they use manifold studs and nuts or just regular bolts? Can I get my downpipe / exhaust manifold off while the engine is in the car? It looks like its gonna be a pain in the a$$, any tips?

Alright I bought this total piece of $hit G60 and have done a ton of work on it to get it running better, including rebuilding the supercharger, but it still has a lot of problems. Right now the car is completely gutless under anything less than about 3,500 rpm's. At 3.5K it starts to really kick in and take off. I knew it was messed up but didn't realize how bad it was untill I drove a good running G60 today and all I can say is OMG!!! I wanted to get rid of this car and never see a corrado again but after driving this nice G60 I really want to buy another one. Any suggestions as as to what would make the car so gutless under 3.5K? It has new plugs, wires, cap & rotor, rebuilt supercharger, new air filter, a few recent oil changes with nice filters, etc... I think my supercharger and engine are both good because it has decent power above 3.5K. Right now it has an exhaust manifold bolt missing and a bad gasket so its REALLY loud.

Can you see them now?

What "pipe" is this? Is it a vaccume hose? Hmmmm I don't have anything to measure a metre, how many inches is that? :lol: