odd spark plug stuck in head?

[whitmanink]

well i got my car out for the first time this weekend,
first day was great ,, the second i had a missfire at wot and or more than 3\4 throttle..

so i went to pull the plug (just changed them last summer) and first thing i noticed was the cop boot was like stuck to my spark plug,, got that off after pulling and trying to twist ,,

then the spark plug socket would just (jump ) or hop off the plug , wouldnt turn it,,

so i got out my deep impact socket and put it on and turned it ,,, well then it got hard,, really really hard,,

so hard my impact wouldn't spin it out,, infact it looks like a sleeve or something is turning with the plug itself,,,


well the socket is now
stuck on the plug ,,,
so i went ahead and ordered a new bare head and valves from amazon ,, (im gonna reuse the keepers and springs)

and this week i will tare it apart and put it all together ..

can i pull the head off and on with the header attached ? and install it that way or will something be in the way? (shorty header's)

im curious to see what happened here ,, this is a motor i got off ebay ,, it was used so who knows ..

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

can i pull the head off and on with the header attached ? and install it that way or will something be in the way? (shorty headers)

Yes and yes.
It's a hell of a lot easier to remove the two bolts that hold the downpipe to the header and remove the head together with the header, than it is to pull all the nuts n' bolts that hold the header to the head.
Reinstalling them the same way will also save you a lot of time!

 

[whitmanink]

Yea that's great news..
That really was the only thing I was dreading..well that and changing all the springs lol
I hope to have it back together by early next week ..

 

[StockishS197]

Yea that's great news..
That really was the only thing I was dreading..well that and changing all the springs lol
I hope to have it back together by early next week ..

With the head off anyways, changing the springs will be tedious but a cake walk. No risk of dropping a valve in the piston when the head is already of haha

 

[whitmanink]

With the head off anyways, changing the springs will be tedious but a cake walk. No risk of dropping a valve in the piston when the head is already of haha

yea im wondering how long it will take,
id imagine me laping the new valves in will take a bit ,, but im hoping by early next week to have it all done , im gonna start tearing down after work and the gym today..

i did however ,take this moment of cash burning a hole in my pocket to also go ahead and ordered a set of amazon valve covers , to paint my green and put in the engine as well ..

any tips on the valve spring install and removal ?
the most i did was use the valve spring compressor tool to put back in the roller followers..

id imagine putting a towel down incase a keeper goes off flying lol

 

[whitmanink]

Man these are sexy..
For awhile only mod max had replacement heads...
These are from Amazon for like $350 ..
Cam caps are numbered and the arrows on them..

It has two the freeze plugs and I guess I need to look at the old head to see where to put the ?

 

[JC SSP]

Wow that is dirt cheap! Can you post link to Amazon vendor?

 

[JC SSP]

Disregard, I search and found them. Wow thought those were obsolete.

Please let us know how they compare to the originals.

 

[Kev555]

I thought new heads were obsolete too. A smart man would buy up his stock if it was limited

 

[Kev555]

yea im wondering how long it will take,
id imagine me laping the new valves in will take a bit ,, but im hoping by early next week to have it all done , im gonna start tearing down after work and the gym today..

i did however ,take this moment of cash burning a hole in my pocket to also go ahead and ordered a set of amazon valve covers , to paint my green and put in the engine as well ..

any tips on the valve spring install and removal ?
the most i did was use the valve spring compressor tool to put back in the roller followers..

id imagine putting a towel down incase a keeper goes off flying lol

its quite easy with the proper valve compression tool as the collets can be a pain to insert without the compression tool but its a good few years since I replaced a set of valves and ground them in by hand, I guess there's prob easier tools on the market nowadays. These are similar to the tools id have used, Id nearly have blisters on my hands grinding in 8 valves on a four pot never mind 24
Don't forget to fit new stretch bolts in the heads but I recommend ARP bolts as stretch bolts make you sweat on the stretching part

 

[whitmanink]

I thought new heads were obsolete too. A smart man would buy up his stock if it was limited

not anymore ,, and im glad ,, you can get a set for like $699.
ill report back this weekend with lots of pics, .., so far it looks very very nice

ill have to buy a right side head so its new valve guides ect ect for the turbo .. which im not putting on until winter now due to this and wanting to drive my car ( not a DD)

 

[Kev555]

My heads with 105k just needed skimmed, the exhaust valve guides replaced and valves reground. Not bad as I thought maybe all the guides would need replaced. The valve stem oil seals were the only obvious one to me as before the engine work as I knew they were letting oil past them

 

[whitmanink]

My heads with 105k just needed skimmed, the exhaust valve guides replaced and valves reground. Not bad as I thought maybe all the guides would need replaced. The valve stem oil seals were the only obvious one to me as before the engine work as I knew they were letting oil past them

im mortified to get the aftermarket bronze guides as they had batch problems breaking valves ..
id opt for the stock guides anyday just due to the problems with the bronze..

altho i will say im surprised they didnt replace all the valve guides as that would seem like a good practice to do? unless they did all but ony a few were bad? im not sure what you ment?

 

[JC SSP]

Yeah I agree, everytime I have sent heads to a machine shop it’s the complete job: resurface, guides, seals, valve job, etc.

 

[Kev555]

im mortified to get the aftermarket bronze guides as they had batch problems breaking valves ..
id opt for the stock guides anyday just due to the problems with the bronze..

altho i will say im surprised they didnt replace all the valve guides as that would seem like a good practice to do? unless they did all but ony a few were bad? im not sure what you ment?

These guys build race and rally car engines and if they said there was no wear to justify changing the inlet guides, I trust them. I told them at the start whatever the engine needed I would get and not to cut any corners. The exhaust guides were the only ones showing enough wear it warrant replacing. I had to order them from the USA like every part I renewed in the engine due to lack of parts here. They advised me to order a few extra as guides are notorious for one or two coming undersized in a shipment and they were right about that. Why spend money where its not needed? They knew I was never going to boost it or tune it too much as they asked all these questions when I dropped the block and heads with them.

 

[whitmanink]

Well to me it's one of them ( while you're in that deep ,might as well take extra precautions)..

I mean if they did the exhaust side ...
You have tight tolerance on the exhaust side ..
And old worn but ( looks good from here) on the intake side...

Unless they removed each valve from the head and measured the inside of the intake guides ..

if did , they know what they are doing ...
If they didn't and did the ,,looks good to me...

Than . Yea money well spent I guess

 

[Kev555]

Well to me it's one of them ( while you're in that deep ,might as well take extra precautions)..

I mean if they did the exhaust side ...
You have tight tolerance on the exhaust side ..
And old worn but ( looks good from here) on the intake side...

Unless they removed each valve from the head and measured the inside of the intake guides ..

if did , they know what they are doing ...
If they didn't and did the ,,looks good to me...

Than . Yea money well spent I guess

They did remove every valve and checked tolerances of valves and guides. The exhaust guides are prone to wearing more than the inlet like most engines I guess. Probably a lot to do with the carbon build up on the exhaust valve wearing more on the guide compared to the inlets which are generally cleaner? The stock guides from were reasonable to buy from Rock Auto from memory but a lot more expensive in labour costs to fit. Anyways back to yours now, think we have got side tracked enough with mine which was not my intention. Looking forward to seeing those heads fitted.

 

[whitmanink]

update:
im slowly getting the engine apart,,
its taking longer due to life and all that fun stuff.
that and im tired of living in my garage lol

but im at the point where the head bolts are out, and tomorrow or today ill pull the old head and then take lots of pics of the new head,,

i had a knock off valve spring compressor that i kinda got to work before ,, but this time i couldnt get the last roller follower out due to the threads of the tool not reaching.,,.

i ordered the OEM brand one and let me tell you,,
night and day difference,,

not only is it made sooooooo much better,, the main difference is the bend on the (legs) of the tool,,
not even close, and the width of the (legs) is way off ,,

i can post pics than showing why sometimes knockoff are money savers and sometimes they can be money wasters ..

but yes this weekend should be valve lapping , spring install , and get her done..

and lots of pics to follow for your viewing pleasure

 

[86GT351]

These guys build race and rally car engines and if they said there was no wear to justify changing the inlet guides, I trust them. I told them at the start whatever the engine needed I would get and not to cut any corners. The exhaust guides were the only ones showing enough wear it warrant replacing. I had to order them from the USA like every part I renewed in the engine due to lack of parts here. They advised me to order a few extra as guides are notorious for one or two coming undersized in a shipment and they were right about that. Why spend money where its not needed? They knew I was never going to boost it or tune it too much as they asked all these questions when I dropped the block and heads with them.

Not doubting there knowledge and experience. Just don't see the point of not putting in all new while the heads are off. Do the job once! As a customer if you are doing your own work and pull the heads you have alot of your own time tied up. If in fact they tell you all the guides don't need to be replaced and then a short time down the road a guide has an issue, you are going to be pissed. I kno0w I would be.

 

[whitmanink]

Not doubting there knowledge and experience. Just don't see the point of not putting in all new while the heads are off. Do the job once! As a customer if you are doing your own work and pull the heads you have alot of your own time tied up. If in fact they tell you all the guides don't need to be replaced and then a short time down the road a guide has an issue, you are going to be pissed. I kno0w I would be.

Yea I share many of the same thoughts as you have on this subject matter,
But each person does have certain goals and or money restrictions, or in my case life gets in the way and funds
must be moved around and sometimes I need to cut corners to get it done and going .
Not saying that was the case ..
but I just try to look at all angles because a lot of times a lot more is going on than what meets the eye..
...
....
But none the less
. More progesss