Replacing seals in my M20
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What is said damage to the head?
Most certainly not grounds for a part out. -
just go for it! tearing down an m20 to the head is simple enough to do again in the future if it doesnt work out. seems like a win over selling the car!!
Dan
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just go for it! tearing down an m20 to the head is simple enough to do again in the future if it doesnt work out. seems like a win over selling the car!!
Selling and parting aren't my first choices. The problem is that this is my DD and if I can't get it on the road by the time the snow flies, I need a car. I'm not driving my 66 Charger in WI winters, and I don't have the money or space for another car to DD while the E30 sits.
I'm sure I'll find something, it's just a matter of what and when.
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What is said damage to the head?
Most certainly not grounds for a part out.
Said head damage is that it has a small nick on the undersurface that has to be welded, but it's also warped. The shop felt that in order to surface it enough to use it would require a hugely thick head gasket. Not sure I want to have to rely on a gasket to obtain proper clearance for the pistons and valves.
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Well, decided to pop for the 855 casting head that was up for sale on Ebay. Not the place I would have preferred to buy, but since everything else I found anywhere was going for around $500 or more, $299 seemed pretty reasonable assuming that the thing isn't junk. I guess I'll find out for sure when I received it and take it in to get it surfaced.
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Car-part.com would have all those listings.
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Should have the new head sometime this week. May have to wait another week to get it surfaced as it will have to be disassembled in order to do so. Not sure if I have the tools or knowledge to take out and re-install valves myself.
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My Ebay head arrived on Friday. Off to the machine shop on Tuesday and hopefully begin the process of re-assembly later this week!
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Well, hope to get started on re-assembly this weekend and maybe on the road by Monday. Any suggestions for a newbie to head gasket replacement regarding setting the gasket and timing?
Got new head bolts, took a tap to each of the bolt holes to clean them up. All holes are dry and I took my parts retriever magnet to each of the holes to fish out any metal shavings from the tap. Took a razor blade to the top of the block and cleaned all the remnants of the old gasket, and cleaned the front of the block to set myself up for success on the water pump.
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Weekend wasn't engine re-assembly friendly. I did, however, manage to get the head situated on the block last night with bypass hose reconnected and head bolts turned in just enough to have the caps flush with the metal. Today comes head bolt torqueing, valve adjustment, exhaust manifold attachment and hopefully thermostat housing and hose attachment.
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OK. Have the head bolts torqued to 22 ft-lb, and then torqued 90 degrees twice. I just got my days muscle resistance and cardio workout in (at least resistance exercise for my right arm anyway). Remaining goals for today are exhaust manifold re-attach, thermostat housing re-attach and hoses.
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A few more pics from yesterday. Got the intake and valve body on, as well as the exhaust manifolds connected. Today, got the valve body torqued in, the throttle cables attached, the thermostat housing attached, and the hoses for it that were in the car re-attached to it. Plugged in the fuel injectors, fuel lines and thermostat cables, and pretty much got the left side of the engine done save for the bellows, MAF and air box. Also got the new water pump and gasket attached finger tight. Hope to torque the water pump bolts and get most if not all of the timing belt in tomorrow. Might even get him on the road!!
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Made really good progress on Friday. Got the timing belt on and nearly complete. Only thing left is to put the fan on and put the coolant in, then hope that it starts and runs right.
I assume that putting the antifreeze in goes like usual; pour in through overflow tank with engine running, heater defroster on and bleed screw cracked? Haven't refilled a coolant-less engine in quite a while.
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Made really good progress on Friday. Got the timing belt on and nearly complete. Only thing left is to put the fan on and put the coolant in, then hope that it starts and runs right.
I assume that putting the antifreeze in goes like usual; pour in through overflow tank with engine running, heater defroster on and bleed screw cracked? Haven't refilled a coolant-less engine in quite a while.
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Thanks!! Never thought of that. The thoughts of starting the engine on basically no coolant and running it that way for several minutes while it slowly sucked antifreeze through a straw really had me worried it wouldn't fill fast enough.
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Well, my victory was short lived. Got the car started and the coolant level up to where it seemed it should be. The heater was working. Coolant level seemed to be ok for an initial drive so I took it out for a short drive to let the coolant circulate with intent of checking it again when I stopped. Made it about two miles from the house when the engine lost power and shut down. Smelled like something had burnt. Had smoke coming out of the side of the car and a puddle of oil forming under the engine. The temp gauge never showed that the engine was hot, so not sure what happened, but suspect that the head gasket blew again. I'm not sure why as I had done everything the book and DIY's said to do. I know I got everything together right and timing was set properly. Had it towed to the shop this time as I have no clue where to begin looking at this point. I'm so pissed right now that I'm about ready to throw in the towel on this thing.
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