So I was pulling my spark plugs trying to diagnose my no start problem and noticed this..



I take it the cam chain broke which caused this, so stay tuned for some nasty pictures (if you're familiar with my previous work).

By the way, how much would it cost to repair this? Bent valves included.

 

i think theres 3 threads that are active about the same thing. one of them tells you everything you will need too know.... with detail

 

This is different.
This is a DOHC engine with the cam chain.
This means you probably have to replace the chain, cam shafts, tensioner, J pipe, and repair the head, along with replacing all the bent valves.

Was the tensioner and/or pads changed recently/ever?
I'm curious to see what caused it.

I would bet it's probably cheaper to just buy a rebuilt head from 944online.com or the like.

 

oh God, not another one

what is this? 944s are afraid of winter this year or something?

 

I bought the car a week ago as a project. The seller just said it "wouldn't start one day". For some reason I believe I didn't get the whole story. Looking at all the receipts the car was babied up until '99, then I'm guessing the next few owners kind of neglected it.

I'm actually kind of excited to get my hands dirty..

 

Actually probably the chain tensioner pad broke off, the chain caught the tensioner, broke the tensioner out of the head and all of it got slammed into the cam stripping the teeth on the cam. And the valves bent too. Total carnage in there. You will need to repair or replace the head, replace tensioner assembly, cams, chain, valves. Better to find a used head but for a 16 valve they are hard to find and usually more than $1000 to buy because they are scarce. Is it an S2 or an S? S heads are rarer and harder to find although someone here just sold a whole running 16 valve engine for $700.

 

It's an 87 S. I've seen S heads floating around before, I'm thinking send it off to a family member who works at a jet shop repairing aircraft engines. He said he'd be able to put some TIG welds on it at least and maybe be able to re-machine it so that looks good at least.

 

looks like your whole tensioner ripped off the mounting point. You are going to need to weld the mounting point back on. It is possible that you may not have any bent valves (as was the case with my personal experience) but you will most likely have at least one stripped cam and damage to your tensioner. Jay W got it right on. Best of luck!

-Nick

 

if it was an 8v head it would be an easy reair but rebuilding the 16v head will be expensive. I guess if the car is in good condition otherwise and you got it real cheap it won't be bad.

 

Thanks, yeah I bought the car on the cheap as a rainy day project (plus I missed my Guards Red '83). Lucky thing is everything else on the car is good. It has a brand new clutch, short shift kit, koni's, and a bunch of other goodies, only thing was the car wouldn't turn over.

I'll tear down the engine on Friday and see what's up, I'm going to work and school full time so i won't be able to check anything in detail until then..

 

Speaking of which I wonder how hard it would be to switch the car to an 8v while I redo the 16v head. I'm guessing one would need an 8v head, cam, intake, exhaust headers, and DME, am I missing anything? Most of that stuff I have left over from my n/a. Just a thought.

 

IIRC the 8 valve head isn't a bolt-on with a few 8 valve pieces...the oil/coolant passages are different.

 

Only the coolant passage and only on the S2 head, 89+
However the intake and exhaust manifolds are different, probably the exhaust downpipe, the knock sensors, AFM location, Airbox, the big one is the valve reliefs, too many and in the wrong place.

-Joel.

 

Pretty much difference in the wire harness under the hood to accomodate all the different components and locations of those components under the hood. The DME is different as well.

 

Well the good thing is, if it does end up being a crazy sum of money to repair this head, a certain parts place in the Bay Area has complete 16v heads for $1000.

Going to tear everything down tomorrow, I'll charge up the camera batteries so I can get some good shots of the carnage. The good thing is, the car got a new head gasket and a few other things in '99 so hopefully the head won't put up too much of a fight.