What to replace while the head is off?

Hello everyone,

I got a 140, 100, 160, 160 reading on my compression test, so the head is off. It was just a bad head gasket as far as I can tell. It looks like someone half ***ed a replacement before they sold me the car. I'm going to have to resurface the head because I scratched it on the dowel like an idiot. While the head is apart, is there anything else you recommend replacing? Valves, guides, keepers, springs, etc? Should I lap the valves or just make sure they're put back in the same location?

Thank you,
Scott

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Originally Posted by sfcarlock

Hello everyone,

I got a 140, 100, 160, 160 reading on my compression test, so the head is off. It was just a bad head gasket as far as I can tell. It looks like someone half ***ed a replacement before they sold me the car. I'm going to have to resurface the head because I scratched it on the dowel like an idiot. While the head is apart, is there anything else you recommend replacing? Valves, guides, keepers, springs, etc? Should I lap the valves or just make sure they're put back in the same location?

Thank you,
Scott

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Your car is worth $2000 at best, so I wouldn't go to much into replacing things. However, you can take the head to a machine shop and they'll be able to deck the surface and run a bench test to see if the valves, valve seals, and other internals are doing their job. (It could be a bad valve seal or a bent valve that was causing low compression)

I read your other thread too. Was your car not idling or was it able to hold idle? Is the IAC valve gummed up?

Replace everything timing belt related.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slayerized6

Your car is worth $2000 at best, so I wouldn't go to much into replacing things. However, you can take the head to a machine shop and they'll be able to deck the surface and run a bench test to see if the valves, valve seals, and other internals are doing their job. (It could be a bad valve seal or a bent valve that was causing low compression)

I read your other thread too. Was your car not idling or was it able to hold idle? Is the IAC valve gummed up?

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Thanks for the suggestions. It was holding an idle fine until it stopped starting. I did clean out the TB though because it looked pretty nasty

Having just put an engine back together, the head was off due to valve damage. I had to replace 16 valves, the new ones were all lapped in by hand. I'd recommend cleaning the valves whilst out, you'll get a blueprint compression as a result. The stem seals should be replaced too to prevent burning oil.

As pointed out previously, replace the crappy plastic idler and tensioner and the water pump in the belt area, my water pump looked OK at 33k miles but had push/pull movement (heard as a click) but barely noticeable as actual movement, this starts fraying your brand new shiny timing belt.

After 3.5 years standing in bits, it started first time with no drama.

Be really careful when tightening the cam caps, ignore torque and just go by feel.

All the best.