Couple questions. Replacing head gaskets and have engine torn apart.

91BLOWNSC

Registered User
Ok, just let me start off by telling you a little of how its going. Frankly its going great. I have almost everything off except the intake and the valve cover/heads and only worked on it for 3-4 hours. Anyways, I get just about all tha stuff off and reach my hand down inside the port of the intake and what do i fell? It is FILLED complelety with coolant. Is this normal? I mean I know I blew my head gaskets but cheeseless rice! Thats crazy. I pulled out the injectors (obviously) and they seem to be a little on the dirty side. Is there anything I can do, like any chemical I can soak them in that will clean them out really good while there off? I hope so I really wanna clean this baby up. Some other things, my intake bolts seem to be coming out really snuggly.. I keep wrenching them back and forth to get them free. I also hope thats normal.
The next thing I found was that when i took out the intercooler there was probably a 5 table spoons of oil that came out of the lower intercooler tupe. Why is this and what causes it? Is there anyway I can fix it?
My heater core I beleive may be going, would it be wise to replace it not while I have everything in the engine bay out? Or is an east job that can be done at a later time. my dad seems to think that it may be hard. Opinions?
I am currently debating whether or not to get a valve job done for my car. My real question is, is it worth it? What are the benifits. And will my car run better (performance gains)? I didn't really want to spend a lot of money but I was going to try to at least get the valve job done if its worth it and port the exhaust manifolds. But I don't know. Any comments would be helpful. I just hope now I can get this engine back together.
Oh ok this is the last thing i promise. I just replaced the plugs AND O2 sensors like not to long ago at all. Matter of fact, there brand new. Do I have to replace them? Did blowing my head gaskets ruin them that fast? I hope not I do not want to have to buy some more again.
Any info on any of this would be REALLY helpful!! thanks guys!
 
The coolant level is that high because an intake valve was open and the coolant level was above the level of the intake, so it filled up. Clean the injectors with a rag and tooth-brush, the stuck bolts are due to sealant on them or coolant rotting the threads(normal on high mileage). The oil in the intercooler is normal. Since you are removing the valves to change the valve seals wire brush the valve and the seat, if they are heavily pitted have the valves machined(sometimes the seats arent as bad). For the heater core do it later and remove the wiper cowl(easier to reach hoses), Re-use the O2 sensor and see if there is a check engine light, if not you can leave them in, but some say its a good idea to change them because the glycol? will contaminate them. I've never seen a change in mileage yet if the old sensors were re-used.
 
When I took my blower off, and turned the crank, coolant forcefully sprayed out of the intake manifold. The two rear cylinders in my engine were flooded with anti-freeze.

Thats normal.

Get the heads milled down about .005 or .010 and since you better change the valve stem seals, might as well grind the valves a bit. What I did was get a valve spring compressor, pull the valves out (put them in a box so you know what head and what order they go back in). Then when you put them back in, put some valve grinding compound on the seats of the valve. Take a cordless drill motor and put the valve stem in it like you'd put in a drill bit. Then spin the valve against its seat in the head with the compound on it. It will freshen up the seat. Then wipe it down, put the new stem seal, reinstall the spring, move on to the next valve. If you have a dremel tool, while your heads are empty (valves out) trace the gaskets onto the exhaust side and intake side with a permanent marker. Then take a dremel tool with a carbide cutting bit and open up the heads to where you drew your line. Then take an air compressor and blow them out to make sure all the shavings are out of the head. After that, get a polishing wheel and go back over the heads ports until they are smooth to the touch because rough metal won't flow as well as smooth. Then grind the valves, then put it all back together. You can even port match your intake manifolds lower side. Every little bit helps.

I would DEFINATELY change the plugs and probably the O2's as well. I am replacing mine.

I have my heads done and reinstalled on my car, intake manifold is back on, valve covers are on (painted platinum silver BLING BLING). I have the injectors in. I still want to either get headers or port my ehaust manifolds before I reinstall them. I have spent so far right around $300 on gaskets, tools, head work, etc... I still have about $415.09 more to go on plugs, wires, belts, hoses, pulleys, O2 sensors, and if I want headers add another $300 to that price.

I was going to get some Dr. Fred heads and cam but now I just want the car out of my garage. I'll order the heads and cam once I pay off my credit cards! For now if my car was back together the mods are: 190 lph fuel pump, transgo shift kit, ported exhaust manifolds, no cats, high flow resonator, no mufflers, ported heads w/ stock size valves :-(, stock cam, 10% blower pulley, K&N filter, 70mm MAF, no air silencer. So basically its gonna be pretty much stock for now... Mild upgrades shall we say. I'm hoping it to knock off a 14.6 and I'd be happy. Once I get the gears, convertor, blower top, double IC, bigger MAF, and larger Throttle Body, I'd be happy to dip into 13.90's with stock cam. I just don't know if I'll be able to do it with a stock blower w/ just a pulley, top, and double IC. If I spray the laughing gas, its easily possible but I want to do 13's w/o the juice. I might have to get an MP or ESM blower to bust out of the 14's. Once I get the heads and cam and I have the other bolt ons I'm hoping to see LOW 13's or high 12's! Then I'll worry about stroking the bottom end, and water to air intercoolers etc... The MP front mount looks interesting and might be needed to get my car into the 13's.

Anyways good luck with your project.
 
Last edited:
Well

Thanks for the tips guys. Im on the other side of michigan. In monroe. Right in the corner of the state. So that wouldn't bea feaseable scott but thanks for the offer!! Oh btw...I called autozone today and asked them for a new power steering pump cause mines all messed up and they told me the ones WITH power assist are 65 and the ones without are 45..what is the difference and which one do I have? I thought they were all power assist but i guess not.
 
Remember, you drive a SC.....you will never need the less expensive part. If your not sure, always buy the more expensive one.

And it is the $65 one with variable assist------it has to do with how much the pump assists your steering.....ie.low speeds=full assist, high speeds=low assist
 
lol

I was hoping for the cheaper part!!
Anyways I had one more question that Scott almost touched on. I was thinking about having my stock manifolds ported out, Is this something I can do with a dremel tool at my house? Or can I really screw the thing up?? I can't really get inside the manifold, which side do I open up? both of them? Seems like even if I did open them up, the heads would still be the same size so theres no benefit. Any opinions on what I should do?
 
only do the collector area(part where down pipes attach) if your heads arent ported. If your heads are ported also do the primary side which attaches to the heads, the more you port the more warpage(primary side) you will have the next time you remove them, so you might want to enlarge one bolt hole in each pair. A dremel wont work, the best is a carbide high speed steel grinding bit.
 
Probably the biggest restriction on the stock manifolds is at the collector (where the exhaust pipe bolts to) where it necks way down. You should be able to open that area up to around 2" in diameter. You can use a dremel to do it, but you may be a very old man before you get to drive your car again. Best bet is with an air powered die grinder.
 
91BLOWNSC said:
I pulled out the injectors (obviously) and they seem to be a little on the dirty side. Is there anything I can do, like any chemical I can soak them in that will clean them out really good while there off?

If you want to get them cleaned on the inside to help ensure that they are flowing the proper amount of fuel you could call your local diesel injection shop and ask if they clean gasoline injectors too.

Around here one of the local shops is named, by some odd coincidence, Diesel Injection. What they do there is give the injectors a sonic bath, new O-rings and pintle cap (where used) and finish with a flow test to check volume. Cost was $20 per injector. Not cheap but better than buying new ones.
 
Well I have an air compressor in my garage and we actually used a pneumatic grinder to do my heads. I would guess a dremel would work but take a bit longer.

I am not going to touch the top of the exhaust manifolds because if you grind anything away you will be in the bolt holes and it will leak. I also think the best bet is to open up the collector a little bit. Just open it up so instead of rounding off at the bottom the pipe extension comes down straight, when it curves in its blocking a little bit of air flow. I don't know how much more hp you will free up by doing this but if you take the manifolds off might as well. I did all the free mods I could think of on my SC.

I am really leaning toward the mac shorty headers though for $269.95. You have to modify the drives side one slightly but its better than paying $795.95 for some hearders from Kooks.
 
Back
Top