Princess or Pig?

[enjr44]

Yep, cheap engine on CL = core!!

 

[TenSeven]

It's going to be a sunny weekend, nice time for some garage mechanic knuckle scraping. Out of curiosity I think I'll pop the heads off and take a look.

What kinds things should I be looking for in general? Valve Train, sticky valves? The test results suggest both head gaskets are blown. Is it easy to spot where those leaky spots in the gasket are? What if the heads are cracked, can those cracks be easily seen? Or is the only way to see them is to have them Magnafluxed?

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Without a leakdown test check for a ridge on the cylinders and scoring in the cylinder walls. At the very least put new valve guide seals in with new head gaskets. Magnaflux would not hurt for sure maybe lap the valves. I would not put too much effort into the heads if you not going through the lower end.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

You will need a new water pump also that one will leak once you put it together, Before you pull the heads pull the water pump and with high pressure water flush the rust and sludge out of the engine block and backflush the radiator and heater core real good.

 

[TenSeven]

Thanks guys, appreciate the suggestions.

 

[TenSeven]

Some pics from the tear down. The heads came off very easily. Looks as those there is discoloration/corrosion on the head gaskets between cylinders 1&2 and 3&4. No obvious visible cracks can be seen on the heads but I'll need to have them Magnafluxed to be sure.

Are the markings on the Pistons stock?

http://s1362.photobucket.com/user/EighteensTen7/library/Head Gasket

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Check for a ridge on the cylinder walls and get the heads magnafluxed. Was it getting good oil pressure? Can you still see crosshatching on the cylinder walls? I would just get the valves ground and new guide seals and put it back together. Be sure and put a bead of permatex in the valleys between the heads and block when you put the intake back on. Do not use silicone anywhere on the engine.

 

[TenSeven]

Check for a ridge on the cylinder walls and get the heads magnafluxed. Was it getting good oil pressure? Can you still see crosshatching on the cylinder walls? I would just get the valves ground and new guide seals and put it back together. Be sure and put a bead of permatex in the valleys between the heads and block when you put the intake back on. Do not use silicone anywhere on the engine.

Thanks.

It had 60lbs of oil pressure. I don't see any cross hatching but there may be a slight ridge near the top of the cylinders. For the coolant leaking mess it is now it sure ran well (initially). No smoke, no oil leaks, totally disappointing now.

Do you know if those pistons are factory stock? (judging by those markings)

Also, after the radiator bulged out then blew up, I had it repaired and I remember the mechanic saying he suspected a blown head gasket(s) were allowing gases to excape into the cooling system faster than it could relieve the building pressure and the radiator smelled like burnt head gasket too.

When I mentioned the head bolts backed out easily that was in comparison to the 2.8 engine rebuild videos I had watched where guys were having to really put their weight into getting them to break loose. I wonder if initially a head gasket(s) was just leaking a bit (but when it got hot and violently dieseled for several minutes if that didn't just blow those leaks out completely.