Decapitating my engine...

[pete_griff 0]

Sorry for any discrepancy - i have tried to put the attachments in order...

 

Unfortunately i had to drive/limp the car about 15-20 miles to the place where i took the head off and owing to the petrol that was being thrown down the exhaust due to no. 6 cylinder not working, my exhaust got VERY hot due to the petrol igniting inside and not only made the tail pipe white with the heat, but the heat went through the heatshield to the extent that it heated up the grease on my gear shifter and smoked me out of the car!

 

once it got there all was going well until i had to undo the crapy little 5mm allen-key head bolt that holds the dipstick onto the inlet manifold - it was v tight so i leaned on it some more and - crack - off came a nice cast chunk of my inlet manifold! - if you look closey at the photos you can see where someone has tried very badly to port the manifold in a couple of areas, making it very thin right next to the bolt in question - upset doesn't quite cover it! :mad:

 

anyway i pressed on and got my leaky rocker cover off, exposing my cams/chains and they look to have lasted pretty well wear wise which is good although, as the horrific porting might have indicated, someone has had the top off before as the caps that hold the cams in were on the wrong way round - cue more swearing! (can't people figure out which way they go even when they have numbers and arrows on?!)

 

i pressed on again and marked up the sprockets/cams with good old tippex, got those of, then there was a bit of a snag....

 

came to undoing to head bolts all going well until one sheared off - cue lots more swearing :bad-words: (needless to say the picture was taken after i got the head off - thank god i managed to get the bolt out in the end :?

 

finally managed to get the bloody thing off (after 4 out of 6 exhaust bolts sheared - probably due to the ridiculous heat earlier) and you can see on the crowns of no's 1 and especially 6 where the water has just started to get in :(

 

hopefully getting the head very lightly skimmed just after xmas, so in the meantime if anyone has a spare lower half of the inlet manifold (the bit that holds the injectors) and would like to sell it - i would be very pleased to hear from them... (07888701877)

 

also just thought i include a photo of my head and my cams and caps laid out just like kev advised :thumb right: (even if i will have to put the caps back on the wrong way round :bad-words:)

[fla 9]

Those pics are useful for me Griff. Shame you're havving these issues but you seem more experienced than me. I'm learning as i go along, which is interesting in itself, if frustrating, not being able to drive the car. Best of luck.

 

Hasan

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

the caps are on correctly mate,and i have a spare lower inlet manifold,give us a PM.

[pete_griff 0]

the caps are on correctly mate,and i have a spare lower inlet manifold,give us a PM.

 

thanks very much for the offer - am hopefully getting a manifold off steve on here, if not then i will be knocking on your door, so cheers

 

cheers for the pointer about the caps - can't understand why the numbers are upside down though when you look at them on the car and i'm sure Kev said in one of his previous posts that they are supposed to point at the transmission...

 

cheers again anyway

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

no they point to the front No1 cap starting at No1 :lol: and work they way up to the flywheel side in a w style.

 

as for the over fuelling i would make sure you dont have a duff ECU ive had two go wrong with me causing one of the injectors to jam open.

[pete_griff 0]

aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh - thinking about the numbering that really does make sense

 

- the only reason for the overfuelling was because no. 6 cylinder wasn't firing oweing to a combination of the plug being f*cked and probably the lack of compression - i took the lead off with it running and it made bugger all difference - so all the fuel would have been shot down the exhaust - think (hope :?) thats the reason it got so bad... so i don't think it was actually overfuelling - the exhaust fumes absolutely stank of fuel when i started it up cold in the morning

 

cheers again for the steer :thumb right:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Glad to see you're getting stuck in :lol:

 

Sorry about the cam cap confusion mate. I must have been pissed, but James is right, they do point to the airbox end of the engine! Doh!

 

How many miles is she on? Hard to say if 1 and 6 is residual leakage from removing the head of oil burning. They all have oil build up on 1 and 6 though.....

[pete_griff 0]

she has done near enough 145k now - and the cams/buckets are in pretty good nick considering - no pitting anywhere which is good to see - the tensioners could do with changing, but as they are still nowhere near the metal work i'm not looking at those - they will just depress me!

 

got a head gasket kit from gsf and it came with new valve stem seals, so when i get the head lightly skimmed i will get the bloke to pop those on for me as well as i don't posess a valve spring compressor, as for the bores i forgot to check in all honesty - had my mum waiting to give me a lift home so i was in a bit of a rush and didn't check - from the pictures ive taken they look ok - but i'll check again when i go out next - not that i'm going to do anything about it anyway unless they are horrific

 

hopefully lose a fair bit less oil after doing this, as the car leaves a very small 5p sized spot when parked which annoys and embarrasess the hell out of me when i go anywhere.

 

from the pics you can see that it looks like im losing a fair bit out of the filler through a crap oil cap - anyone else experienced this - any easy/quick solutions other than buying a new one?

 

also you can't really see very well from the pics but only 1 and 6 have that horrible orange tinge on the crowns, and only those two plugs were getting fouled so all being well it will run nice and sweet again after this...

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

the bores will always wear on the thrust side,you will more than likley feel a lip,but ive seen bad bores and they have never somked,but your rings could be fine the scraper rings will be sealed over with burnt oil,might be best to pull the pistons out since you are so far stripped down and clean up the rings?

 

You could have been pulling oil via the steam seals,new set should help,as for the cap,just buy a new one mate.

 

Hope it works out mate.

 

 

Cheers

[pete_griff 0]

cheers again - can't really be bothered to go dismantling the bottom end as well in all honesty, especially as the engine has hopefully only got to last another year or so.

 

cheers for the advice though, it will be nice not to have to put quite so much oil in it!

[pete_griff 0]

the caps are on correctly mate,and i have a spare lower inlet manifold,give us a PM.

 

hey there my friend, the deal with steve fell through as it turns out he didn't have out after all - if you still have yours then it would be real good if i could buy it off you - have sent you a PM

 

cheers

[pete_griff 0]

howdy all, just thought i'd post a few more pics of my progress for those who are interested - had the head very lightly skimmed (bout 4 thou) and have reground all the valve seats and cleaned everything up shiny before it goes back on.

 

hoping to get the head back on and all timed up tomorrow, just waiting for a couple of manifold studs from vw and for the lower inlet manifold - big thanks here by the way to james who is sending me said item at very short notice :thumb right: (shame it won't arrive until after the new year now) :(

 

anyway the pics are attached below, as above, hopefully in some sort of order

 

enjoy...

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

VR6 bits all over the kitchen :lol: manifold will be with you shortly bud.

[pete_griff 0]

and some more...

[pete_griff 0]

and the last few...

 

(for now!)

[pete_griff 0]

i really need to change the date on my camera, and i really really need a haircut! :oops:

[fla 9]

Griff? How did you get the tappets and stems out? I just removed the head on mine today and 3 valves are bent so need to be replaced. Just have no idea on getting those to move and dont want to get the hammer out....

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

Tappets,remove with a magnetic stick and use some stem seal pliers

 

http://www.departstop.com/images/10-218A.jpg

[pete_griff 0]

fla by tappets and stems - im taking it that you want to remove the valves/valve guides, buckets etc etc to replace it with all new bits?....

 

the buckets or followers (the round shiny things) that the cams push down on should simply lift out if you get a strong magnet on them.

 

after this if you look underneath you will see the top of the valve and the cap that surrounds it (see my pics above). in the centre of this cap are two little half moon shape things called colletts (unsure on spelling) and these essentially are what hold the valve in place on the springs. the colletts are tapered, (as is the spring cap) and have grooves inside them - these grooves locate around grooves in the top of the valve stem and hold it in place against the spring cap using the tension of the springs against the taper (you'll see better if you take it apart - my pics above may help).

 

basically to get the valves etc out, you will need a valve spring compressor - and make sure you get hold of one big enough to go around the head (i.e so it fits over the top and bottom, allowing you to compress the springs!)

 

are you sure you want to keep your head though my friend - don't want to be harsh, but it looks pretty unsalvagable from the pics in your thread - you might be just as well throwing the thing in the bin and starting from scratch with the head - new valves, guides, seals etc - you might be as well just putting the cash towards something brand new...

[Kevin Bacon 5]

LOL, reminds me of my old house when I used to respray wheels in my bath and polish engine bits on the dining room table :lol:

 

All credit to you for doing that super fast and it's the best way to learn :-)

[Supercharged 2]

LOL, reminds me of my old house when I used to respray wheels in my bath and polish engine bits on the dining room table

 

:lol:

 

Good old days! 8)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Don't you think Pete looks like Dom in those photos? :lol:

 

Dom, for those who don't know, is Dinkus.... the guy humping the silver corrado in the banner pic :lol:

[pete_griff 0]

haha - not sure what to say about that without hurting anyone's feelings!

 

got the head, cams and thermo housing back on today - will post up some pics when i get the chance - right now im off to get anihilated!

 

bit of snag today - the upper guide i noticed had a couple of bad cracks in it - twisted it in my hands ever so slightly and it snapped really easily :?

 

gonna order a new one from gsf asap - bit of an odd one though - will get some pics up when i have more time

[Skimask 0]

Been through all that just a short while ago. the engine would only run on 5 cylinders because No 6 was fouled with oil. Stripped the engine, had the head skimmed - and the valves re-ground. The exhaust ones were very pitted. The engineering shop took £1.50 per valve to regrind/recut the seats. I also removed No6 piston just to put my mind at rest - but the rings were OK, and because I had disturbed them , replaced the big end bearings and bolts. The bores were very good with just a wee bit of wear - much less than expected for a 150K engine. Replaced the chains, adjusters and guides. A new head gasket set, The engine sitting there waiting to go into a car!

[pete_griff 0]

hey there fellas - hope everyone had a good new year - i'm still feeeling a bit fuzzy myself :morning:

 

here's the pics i promised - take note of the one of the upper chain guide - if you look closely you can see another crack just a bit further up towards the top from the actual break - glad i noticed - that would have had a nice mess inside the chains casing :?

 

i haven't put sealer round the chain cover or cleaned the rocker cover yet as i've only fitted the top half of the broken guide rail for now until the new one arrives and will have to take the bits off again

 

here ya go, hope you all like the shiny bits!...