Jakerx

who know they may be expanding and just haven't listed the 944 parts on there

Carrera51

Vertex is www.vertexauto.com

Charlie944

I am contemplating on going with a already rebuilt head from either Ian from 944Online or from Lindsey Racing. I have heard from both and I wanted to clarify a couple details so I am waiting to hear back again. Right now the head from 944Online would be the better deal and it has a 1year warranty. For 8 valves, seals, and guides I am looking at ~ $370, that means I would have to find a machine shop to do the work (valve job, install guides, clean, deck surface) for $150 to make it competitive to Ian's rebuilt head. The already rebuilt head would be a quicker proposition in regards to the lapse of time involved as well.

Thank you for the links guys, I will look into them.

Perry 951

Buy Ian's head. You will not be dissapointed. Paragon is always good for the gaskets. I would replace all the gaskets on the cam tower and check lifters while you have them out.

Make sure the relief left from the valve in the piston is lightly filed smooth to reduce the chance of a hot spot. Short of that, sounds like you got it taken care of. Get the pics up when you get the car back on the road.

Charlie944

Thank you everyone who lended their input and suggestions! Perry: I am going to go ahead and buy the head from Ian as it looks to be a good deal and of great quality. The lifters and cam look excellent as do the cyl walls! The imperfection on piston #4's valve relief turned out not to be a crack which was determined by using some dye penetrant and developer by Magnaflux. So I smoothed it all out and cleaned the carbon off the piston tops. Here are some pics of the bent valves, broken belt, and freshly painted cam housing and intake.

unsigned

Woah, I like the gauages in the dash. Did you put those in?

NZ951

EBS racing is much cheaper than Lindsey Racing in my experience.

PS I only bent one valve when my belt went. It snapped on idle though, in fact before idle.

NZ951

What paint did you use on the intake Charlie?

Scuba Steve

I'll second, third, or whatever getting the gaskets from Paragon. Replacing the gaskets on the camshaft assembly is easier while it's out. The cheesehead bolt in front caused me problems and in the end I had to drill it out with a masonry drill bit. But at least I didn't have to worry about anything slipping and bending the valves. The balance shaft and crankshaft seals will also be easier to get at, and since the exhaust is out the oil cooler is SO much easier to get at. At the very least I'd do the oil cooler seals if they haven't been done recently.

Chris_924s

Charlie- The parts are looking GREAT!!!! Hopefully I'll be doing the same thing soon.

Charlie944

Thank you all! Andrew: the paint I used on the intake and on the distributor housing is ACE ( a local hardware store labeled pain) heat resistant paint in Aluminum # 17066. It is good to 1000F or 538C. I was suprised how well it covers, and the luster it has. I am sure a quality paint such as Dupli-color, PPG, Plastikote, or VHT will suffice. It dries to the touch in 30min and is cured in 3 hours. The paint seem to dull a bit when exposed to exhaust temp heat, but for the intake and dist. housing it will keep looking just as it does now. The Red on the cam housing I used was a Dupli-color Ford Red Engine Enamel rated at 500F.
I ended up buying the head gasket set from Ian for a couple dollars more than Paragon, but I saved $$ in shipping that way. Ian sells the Victor Reinz gaskets which are now owned by Dana Corp. (same as Paragon sells) I have bought from Paragon a lot in the past, and will continue to do so. I also ordered two OE Gates PowerGrip HTD Timing belts from Porsche through Ian at 944Online. They were $39/belt, and a ContiTech balance shaft belt just to keep the maintence schedule the same. The other T-belt is for the Callaway just to make sure it does not share the same catastrophe.

I replace all the cam gaskets last time I did belts on it (1 year ago) so thet should be good. I have to replace the lower Balance shaft seal, and the oil cooler seals have been replaced before, but thank you Steve for the tip. I had grief with the cheesehead bolt as well! I ended up buying a Lisle tool and it twisted the teeth off the bit!! So I bought a Snap-on 1/2dr and I got it okay, and then replaced the bolt for its serations were slightly damaged from the Lisle bit.

I'll take some pics of the head when I get it, and when I get the car done. Thank you Chris for the compliments, I have been wanting to do some cosmetic work on the 84's engine. I am also looking forward to Hershey this year, and hopefully I can make it out to 944fest as well!

Charlie944

Everything is back together now, and I took it for a quick spin last night...man I missed driving her!! Only bummer is I had just a hair over a 1000mi on my Amsoil Oil and it got a little coolant mixed in when performing the head swap. So I changed it out just to be safe. I ended up going with the rebuilt head from Ian at 944Online and it looked fantastic!! Great guy to deal with too! Here are some pics of everything back together. Thank you everyone for all your help!

Chris_924s

Beautiful... I'm speechless.

sharky47

Man, glad to see you got it all back together and looking good!

I had a T-belt fail on my 87 944S at idle. Took out somthing like 10 out of 16 valves - not pretty!

Charlie944

Thank you guys! I am happy with how everything went together, not to bad of a job really. Next is going to be a clutch, as it is the Original! ~195,000 and counting.