Rob Edwards

So I tore into the GT this weekend, with the plan of removing and cleaning this weekend, sending out the injectors/MAF/LH brain/intake for service, and re-assembling next weekend. I'm starting this thread so that I have a repository for all the dumb detail questions that will likely arise, and to post photos of the blood 'n guts.

I'll be wrenching next Saturday all day long if any of the SoCal crew want to drop by . There'll be beer in the outside fridge and lawn chairs for the peanut gallery. If there's time, the shocks and A/C o-rings are gettin' done as well.

Thanks 1x10^6 to Dave C for the great instruction set!!!!! I managed to remove the whole thing start to finish in about 6 hrs, though there's a bunch of cleaning to do....

Comments:

I took the hood off, makes access a lot easier to the back of the motor

My fuel lines were TIGHT- still haven't gotten the front rubber hose off the passenger side rail. I don't want to bend the rail clamping on it. Currently awaiting the Kroil magic.

Much easier to remove the fuel rails without the injectors attached, in fact they're still stuck in the intake.

The knock sensors are TOTALLY trashed, I doubt they were functional at all.

Obligatory gory pics:

Wife's greasy fingerprints on hood:



Passenger rail off:



Intake off, with DR's intake covers in place:



One filthy intake/throttle body, belly up:

pewter82

Good Stuff, keep the pics coming with your progress!

jason

JHowell37

I hope you marked where the hood lines up to the hinges before you removed it.

Rob Edwards

Actually, after looking at a few threads on the subject, I went with leaving the hood attached to the hinges, and removing the six 13 mm bolts that attach the hinges to the body. The only semi-tricky bolt is the rear passenger side one, which is tight against the blower housing when it's almost all the way out, but it'll come out. I took the hood off to be able to pull the blower housing and clean the evaporator, mess with vacuum diaphragms, and change the expansion valve and o-rings.

borland

For fuel line, injector cleanliness, I cut the corners from plastic baggies and cover openings and wrap with rubber bands. Same for electrical connectors. This is especially important when you start the cleaning phase.

The rear fuel damper can be unbolted from the mounting bracket without disturbing the asbestos coolant gasket.

Paper towels or rags stuffed in the valve ports works just as well.

More S4 intake pictures here:

http://928oc.org/journal/page2.html

http://www.tower-mt.com/pics/davids_.../pres0000.html

Rob Edwards

Hmmm. Perhaps another vacuum leak? This is one of the ISV hoses

IcemanG17

Rob
Naw.....some duct tape will fix that right up!

F451

Picky, picky, picky...

Nice work, keep us posted. -Ed

Lizard928

I could never take the extra time to put all the bolts in little boxes like that, it would drive me nuts :O

that being said I have a photographic memory and take things apart and put them back together VERY quickly.

dr bob

The challenge with this project is that you can take it apart quickly and maybe you can put it back together quickly, but the long period while the cleaning and refinishing is being done would never qualify as "quickly". Keeping the bolts organized is a net timesaver. Rob has an ultrasonic cleaner that will get those bolts compartment by compartment, so they will be in the right places when they are new-looking, ready for assembly.


Rob-- Sorry I can't participate in your fun. Mine's due, but probably won't happen for a bit. I did find time to wash it last evening; Too many other projects going right now for 'extra' things like pulling the intake. My garage shop area is full of pantry cabinets and countertops right now. I'm lucky to have a space to stick the car inside at night.

Rob Edwards

Good lord is the front of my V a mess! If you want to be compulsive on this job, before you pull the coolant crossover, get a length of tubing and siphon a half gallon or so of coolant out of the block through the thermostat housing, so you don't spill it down the front of the engine when you remove the crossover. Wish I had done this.....

Sent off injectors, MAF, and LH brain today, intake will go to powdercoaters tomorrow after I get the temp sensor (need a deep 22mm socket) and flappy bearings (man they're tight!) out.


I ran into my first mystery part. There's a little L-shaped bracket on the driver's side rear coolant crossover bolt (shown hanging off the loosened bolt). Nothing was connected to it. Maybe the flappy vacuum line is supposed to route through the hole (total WAG)? Any thoughts?

Rob Edwards

Well, not quite done, but pretty close. I'm waiting for the MAF so I can test things, and I left off the fuel rail covers. (It occurs to me that I will have to remover the throttle quadrant to put the cover back on- nothing's ever easy on these beasts...

Anyway, I'll let the pics do the talking:

BEFORE:




AFTER:

Nicole

That looks great!

The powdercoating of your intake and valve covers seems to be very smooth. Did the powder coater do anything to even out the surface, or were you just lucky to have smooth parts?

PS: Amazing, what you can see in the picture of a black hood... with a bit of Photoshop action, of course...

Here is the master:

AO

Looking good Rob. If you haven't done it already, I advise hand cranking the engine one full rev to make sure noting fell into the combustion chamber. Just ask Tony and Bill Ball.

Rob Edwards

'Honey, does this hood make me look fat?'

Nicole- I guess I got lucky, I don't think they did anything other than media blasting and powercoating. They did shoot clear over the chrome silver, so it's really shiny. (Too shiny vs. stock, but perhaps it'll dull a little with time and heat). The PO had done the valve covers 20K miles ago, so I didn't have them re-done, which was a mistake. The color match is not perfect, but pretty close.

The total to have the intake and side pieces stripped and coated and to have the T-stat neck polished was $120 - The original quote was $85 but I wanted it done in 3 days and threw in the T-stat neck to have them remove some pretty severe corrosion.

Andrew- I turned it over a few times checking the tension (which was fine) and the timing with PorKen's 32V'r - the right side was 1 degree advanced, the left side was 0 degrees. So I'm 2 degrees advanced vs. Ken's suggestion on the right, but I didn't adjust anything 'cause it was getting late and I was thrashing to get things finished.