Down to the Block

The last four days were BUSY! With a move on the horizon and a 96 hour deadline, The Project went into overdrive (no pun intended, ok maybe.) To ensure that I could get things knocked out in an expedient manner, I enlisted the help of my neighbor Bob.

July 30 - 7am-1pm: The timing belt came off. After extensive reading and computer research we figured out where the timing marks were, so we could figure out how to get everything lined up again. Then the Alternator came out and the coil packs (which I should have removed earlier *shrug*) We finally got that stubborn intake bolt off, FINALLY! When the head was unbolted, there was no dynamic, extensive damage to the gasket, but there was a spot near the 2nd cylinder which appeared to be the culprit.

Though a pressure check and head resurfacing and the like would have been the smartest route, I neither had the money, inclination or (most importantly) time, to do that. Under those circumstances, the only thing to do was clean everything, put the new gasket on and pray.

Head, with lower intake manifold still attached.

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning gasket residue off of the head, block, exhaust header, intake manifolds (upper and lower) and the throttle body.

With the head off, I was finally able to get to that spark plug with the plastic melted around it. turns out it wasn't as bad as I thought. When the engine overheated, at cylinder 2, it melted the plastic cover on the spark plug wire. I was able to chip out the plastic and the plug was fine, no damage. whew!

Side note: Parts are numbered and designated as if you were sitting in the driver's seat. I didn't know that. I thought it was from facing the vehicle. I've been calling left right and calling right left etc and counting bolts back wards, calling 1 4 and 4 1 ad naseum.

Timing is Everything

Thanks to my excellent Hayes manual, I figured out what this timing stuff is all about. Timing is what coordinates the crankshaft and camshaft and in some cases the oil pump. It is controlled by the timing belt. When you take the timing belt off, the sprockets on the end of the cam and crank are free to move around independently and get out of sync. When you put the timing belt back on you have to line up the sprockets with timing marks, to get everything coordinated, then the belt goes back on and runs everything in time. If the timing is off, valves will open at the wrong time, the pistons could come up too soon and smack them, then we're in a whole world of hurt. So yeah, a little important.