MSYODER,

Yes, you NYC people pay thru the nose for everything. I couldn't believe when I saw parking for $6.95 for 1/2 hour and that wasn't even center city (about 80th street). Luckly I found a parking place on the street and there wasn't even a parking meter.

P E H

The head replacement is complete!

Nick, my mechanic ran into complications with the front seal. It seems that the crankshaft key-way where the front pulley sits had turned 80degs, ruined the woodruff key, and worn the crankshaft down. He repaired this by adding missing metal by welding and milling it down with sand paper and replacing the pulley piece and woodruff key. I saw the replaced pulley piece. It wasn't pretty.

I saw the head. The crack was obvious. I could stick my fingernail in it. It was right between the intake and exhaust valves on the rear most cylinder. (Exactly where Nick said he would find it.) The other interesting thing was the amount of carbon build-up in the exhaust ports. Looks like the old head would have needed 100s of miles of Italian tune-ups to clear it out. As Nick says, "It's clean now!"

Along with the head and front seal, he also replaced other parts on the engine that were worn or overheated like the heat sensor, all the gaskets, fuel return lines, timing chain and rails, rear IP seal, coolant system and heater hoses, valve cover breather hose grommet. All the valves and lifters were OK. Most of the bolts were broken or stretched.

On the left rear wheel he replaced the bearing, ball joint, parking brake shoes and break pads.

On the transmission he replaced the rear pump seal & filter.

"Deal of your life! $2500". That may well be. Only time will tell. When I balked a bit he pointed out that the time for head replacement alone "by the book" was 28 hours and his price included the parts that I didn't get from Rusty like the rear bearing, temp sensor, front pulley piece, break shoes, ball joint and break pads.

So the parts and labor total? $4350 including shipping and tax.

It ran great for the short trip home. Now I need to go somewhere. Wish I could make the diesel meet in NJ and show off my new head.

Thanks,

__________________
-Mike
'87 300TD 304kmi (RIP)
'95 Toyota Camry Wagon 125kmi

Congrats. it should have a long life ahead of it now..

You cant make it? Darn, I wanted to see another 603 engine car there.

Folks,

I finally had a chance to drive my new headed engine (over two weeks ago during the snow storm in NJ). I must say that I was surprised to findthat the car performed better than ever. The power available in the 60-80mph range was quite noticeably better than with the old head. I realize that this could be attributed to the large investment that was made, but I was intentionally skeptical even though I had gone 150miles
of highway driving passing and climbing on-ramps. I have yet to re-test my 0-50s. I'll withhold my objective judgment until I do.

Thinking back to what the old head looked like (really heavy carbon build up in the exhaust ports), I wonder if the change can be attributed to the freer flow of exhaust. Would this jive with the performance improvements claimed by serious regular Italian tune-ups on old engines?

Does this make sense or would there be other reasons for the improved performance?

Looking forward to my next drive!

Thanks,

__________________
-Mike
'87 300TD 304kmi (RIP)
'95 Toyota Camry Wagon 125kmi

Mike,

From what I understand, the turbo engines don't lose much power with slightly restricted intake or exhaust. If there was a LOT of carbon, that could account for some of the power gain.

However, I suspect that your new timing chain, and perfectly adjusted crank/cam/IP timing is probably the likely cause. Thanks for the update, that gives me something to look forward to after my head replacement job.


BTW - have you checked for the "pressure when cold" syndrome since the job was completed? I've been wondering about that!


Best regards,

__________________
Dave
Boise, ID
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