Project Head Swap

[radiod]

So after a year and a half of saving and collecting parts it's finally come to the point where I can work! For those of you who don't know, a year and a half ago I took my car off the road due to what was a possible BHG, but more than likely a cracked head. I figured it out VERY early (no overheating whatsoever, almost no coolant in the oil period, just a bit of rough running on startup and oil swirlies in the coolant resevoir). So an oil change on the car happend where it was parked, and so it sat there for all this time.

Today I'm going to work on getting the head off the car and finish up what's left on cleaning up the ports on the new head. Plan is to have it all apart today, shove it full of oil drenched rags, get the heads to the machine shop tomorrow, and hopefully have it back running by the end of the week. Pictures will be coming later tonight.

PLEASE! If you see me doing something incredibly stupid YELL AT ME WITH CAPS LOCK ON! I've done my fair share of reading and have worked on engines and whatnot outside of cars, but I've never taken a head off a car engine in the bay still. I hope and pray I'm not biting off more than I can chew :aigo:

 

[mkiii 4 life]

Keep us updated on how it goes.

 

[radiod]

Ok, the head is officially off! I have to run out right away, but I have pictures to post, and an "oops I pulled too hard, what did I wreck?" type picture.

 

[radiod]

So I'm finding out first hand that Supra's are like 2 stroke engines...the need a bit of blood and sweat mixed with each tank of gas or else they don't run anymore. So this is what I got done...wish I could have snapped more pics, but it was VERY messy.

What I started with:

After a few hours of going at it:

Starting to look more bare...:

What I dread to figure out later...WHATAMESS!!!!

And finally! Where I ended up:

Cylinder 3 - 2 - 1 (in that order)

Cylinder 6 - 5 - 4

I don't have the picture of the connector I believe I broke, but I'm 90% sure it has to do with a knock sensor more towards the rear of the block. So many connectors...so many wires...so many nuts and bolts. How the hell am I going to get this thing back together?

 

[radiod]

I found my "oops" picture....dunno if this is going to be clear enough, I'll take a better picture tonight. I was pretty out of it after 7 1/2 hours of working on car in the sun, picking up tools I forgot, working on car some more, picking up MORE tools I forgot, working on car, and making yet another tool run, then working on car some more.

MY OOPS I PULLED ON THE WIRE TOO HARD (methinks)

This was running down between the runners on the intake manifold pretty much right above the starter. Knock sensor wire? Did I kill it? Please don't tell me I have to buy a $150 knock sensor....

EDIT: You can also see the wire hanging in the side shots of the open cylinders.

 

[radiod]

Got some knock sensors in my PO box today, picked up a few more O-rings and gaskets I was missing, soaked my injectors overnight, and got the new head back from machining. Tonight I might start putting things back together depending on how parts cleanup goes. I want to get things looking nice and working/sealing/flowing/etc properly while I have this all apart. I'll post pictures of the new head and some of the work later tonight.

 

[HommerSimpson]

Looking good. the aluminum bosses with the black spacer thing on head .. that the fuel rail bolted to... take them off put them someplace safe before one falls off and you loose it..

 

[radiod]

Noticed that shortly before pulling the head off and they're in the drawer next to the injectors

 

[radiod]

Ok, things have been going a lot slower than I would have liked, but any progress is better than none at all. Assembled the head and took some shots.

My block, all nice and flat and clean...

Polished exhaust port...

Polished intake port...

Assembled and ready to ready to bolt on with new glossy black high temp paint on the brackets and timing cover...

 

[twism]

Are you going to use arp head studs and metal head gasket?

 

[radiod]

Yeah, I am. Sorry I didn't put down the list of stuff I'm using. I'll take the opportunity to do so now

ARP head studs to 90ft lbs
Cometic MLS head gasket
Fel Pro head seal kit (inc valve seals)
Comp Cams 975-12 valve springs on intake and exhaust side
Home ported and polished head

I have done a bit more work on the car since my last update, but I haven't had a chance to update on here. I'll post more when I get a chance. Aiming for the car to be turning over by the end of this weekend

 

[twism]

Good job man. I'm doing my head too... i was boosting 20psi on a stock heads gasket and all i hear was lil pops ::bhg:: dam but all good.

 

[radiod]

Unforuntately I didn't get a chance to take pics, time because a concern from where I was working...but....

CAR IS STARTED!

Engine fired up nicely after finding just a couple coolant lines I forgot to hook up (my bad). My only concern now is I've got a bit of white smoke coming up between the runners of the exhaust manifold. Is this normal? I didn't get a chance to run it long and will be running it again tomorrow. Other than that the only problem I can see at this point is the thermostat housing is leaking a tiny bit from the front, but that is it! No check engine light or anything...yet

 

[radiod]

Drove the car around for a while yesterday and everything seemed fine, so I've put temp insurance on the car for the weekend and if all goes well, I'm gonna hit Aircare (smog test) on Monday. No blowing white smoke at all on the way to work today, so that's always a good sign.

Only problems I have to track down are very minor. My low coolant light is on even though there's PLENTY in the resevoir, and my brake warning light (e-brake light) is on constantly even when the e-brake is off and the brake fluid level is fine. We'll see if they fix themselves because the car has been sitting for quite a long time. If not, I'll be doing some wire testing I guess.

 

[demonofspeed]

Did you ever find out what the wire/connection that was broke was? I have the same one broken.

 

[radiod]

The wire was to the knock sensor towards the rear of the engine. It was actually the sensor I broke, so I just got some new (used) sensors from a fellow Supramania member and we were back in business.

Didn't realize I have not finished up in this thread yet. The car's been running smooth for about a month now, just have to stick my nice exhaust back on now that I'm past all my Aircare stuff. Low coolant light fixed itself as well as the e-brake warning light, so I'm not too concerned about that. Needed to replace my starter because it went bad but other than that, things have been great

 

[Backlash2032]

I'm surprised the MHG sealed on a unmachined block..

 

[radiod]

It was machined by the previous owner less than 7,000 miles earlier, I just cleaned it up and it was perfectly fine for 20,000 miles over 2 years while I had it after the job. If it hadn't been done so recently no question I would have had it machined. This is not the way I'd normally recommend doing it, and I knew and understood the risk going in to the job.