Head Gasket Replacement!

[thenderson2011]

I just got my car back from the shop, after a buddy of mine had spent almost a year on it trying to do what he told me he was gonna do. and now come to find out its got another blown head gasket -_- so I decided I was going to do it myself. My plan is for a felpro gasket set and arp head studs, not trying for much extra power so I'm not going to a MHG.

I got the valve covers off, almost got the exhaust manifold off, and have gotten through a few small things, just making slow progress and making sure I label everything. Any tips/suggestions would be great.
The valve covers, top one is the one I cleaned, the bottom is the other before I cleaned it.

the intake side valve cover, close up

Can tell coolant has been here lol

Looking into the plug hole, pretty grimy

The oil return line, It was pretty clogged up, I pulled it and flushed it out with a water hose.

The CPS before I pulled it out.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but this seems like a huge mf deal here.

That's as far as I got today, but I don't have work til Wednesday, so I'm plannin on having the majority of it done by then, as long as I don't run into too much trouble getting the cams out.

 

[Supra_dan]

Whoa! That turbo...wowsers!

 

[thenderson2011]

I know. what could have caused this?

 

[hvyman]

Forign objects.

 

[Numba1Stuna]

Yeah, I've seen people running without ANYTHING in front of the turbo, no hose, filter, screen, etc... What was your set up?

 

[thenderson2011]

It had a filter and an air cleaner, I think. I'll post a picture of the piping I pulled off it later, but you can kinda see it in the engine bay pic.

 

[thenderson2011]

I've been doing some thinking, how hard is it to pull the motor out and not mess things up? Would it be worth doing so that I can go ahead and have the block milled and go with a mhg? Or since the motor is a GE-T, should I just keep it in, and look for a true turbo motor and build it before swapping it in?

 

[thenderson2011]

This is what was before the turbo.

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

It's more than likely that turbo was run without a filter for a while (or at least long enough to suck birds and small children in), then they got the filter later

 

[pipelinewill]

how would foreign objects make it past the honey comb metal stuff in the maf? maybe pull your air filter off and see if the maf is all banged up.

i'm working on a head gasket replacement, but my cam journals are not smooth, i have another head but it isn't ported, i'm also trying to figure out weather or not to go with new arp studs or re-use the old arp studs.

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

I believe you can reuse ARP studs, though either way you definitely need to make sure everything is all cleaned up, threads especially.

 

[Numba1Stuna]

Yeah, iirc it's the bolts you don't want to reuse because they can stretch.

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[thenderson2011]

Update :

Been working on it, slowly gettin shit taken off, and I'm taking the headbolts off right now. I'm typing this as a break from taking them out, my back is hurting from leaning over the damn engine. But some pictures are coming!

Damn bolt rounded out, gotta get that fucker fixed -_-

The head's coming off!

Finally got er off and in these pictures, the Head gasket is on. I think it may have been torqued incorrectly because some of the head bolts were a lot tougher to break loose than the others, but I honestly don't know.

Cylinder 1

Cylinder 2

Cylinder 3

Cylinder 4

Cylinder 5

Cylinder 6

Where I think may have caused problems :

 

[thenderson2011]

How difficult is it to put in arp headstuds?

 

[zman]

hey bud, I was wondering if i have to take the transmission out in order to take out the crankshaft pulley? and not mess with the timing

 

[Numba1Stuna]

hey bud, I was wondering if i have to take the transmission out in order to take out the crankshaft pulley? and not mess with the timing

No, you don't have to remove the transmission to take off the Crankshaft pulley.

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[thenderson2011]

Well it's been a while since I've posted any updates. I just recently got the head back from the shop, the 29th of March actually lol.

I have been putting the cam gears and everything back together and was about to put the head on when I noticed something. The gasket doesn't seem to line up right.

You can see where the coolant lines, i think that's what they are, the gasket is different than the block. Is that normal, or did I get a wrong gasket?

Here's my head though, nice and shiny!

And cleaning out the threads in the head!

 

[thenderson2011]

It's more than likely that turbo was run without a filter for a while (or at least long enough to suck birds and small children in), then they got the filter later

As it turns out, I was doing a little looking and the accordian pipe had cracked and some of it sucked through.

 

[thenderson2011]

I'm slowly making progress!



I got my intake on, but do I need to put the rtv sealant on the gaskets too? Also starting to get my wiring put in place a little bit



Also, I got my helicoils in, but I'm worried about trying to get the lil tip out, I'm afraid I'm going to miss it and punch a hole through the head into a coolant/oil line. Any suggestions?

 

[thenderson2011]

Some updated pictures, I have gotten a little more progress made since pics.







What size is the bolt that is needed to go in the bracket support hole here? I seem to have lost the bolt that came out of it -___-



Since the pictures I have gotten the plug wiring ran, throttle body installed, and beginning to place the hardlines for the ISCV and the other hardline that goes across the top. I'm just wanting to make sure 100% that I don't hook up anything wrong so that I don't mess anything up after I've come so far.

So far things I have left to do :

New rad hose at bottom of radiator.
Reinstall Charcoal Canister - Although I have been considering the EGR delete block off plates from suprastore.
Turbo support bracket - I seem to have lost mine, if anyone has an extra that I could buy, that'd be great.
Hook up vacuum lines/lines that go to the accordion pipe.
Bolt exhaust to down pipe
Tighten bolt on AC pulley - what's the best way to move the pulley over enough to tighten the belt up?

Also considering a new BOV setup, as a friend of mine was looking at it and told me it's a pretty ghetto setup. I'll get some pictures of it, but I'm almost tempted to just leave it be if I can get it to be reliable, because I leave for school in 2 weeks and am limited on time now. I'll be going to Kansas State University so I'm wanting to take it with me, but I know I'm going to be tight on cash and not sure if I can keep it running, so I might just leave it at my moms with a tarp over it until I know it's good. But I'd rather not honestly haha