AO

I owned a 1987 S4 (#0083) for a brief time about a year ago. Under pressure from the wife I sold it. It was a really nice car IMO and I always regretted selling it.

Good news for me, it has come back into my life. Bad news is it needs work.

The person I sold it to (who will remain nameless) was doing an intake refresh. Upon re-installing the bits and firing it up he experienced a "ticky ticky event." Was coming from the passenger side. He turned the motor off, looked at each cylinder with a boroscope (SP?) and didn't see anything.

Decided to pull the head and found a pebble that must have fallen down the #4 intake valves when the center intake was lifted off. Luckily there appears to be no damage to the piston, cylinder walls, head, or valves. But it could have been bad... very bad.

THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS TURN THE ENGINE OVER ONCE BY HAND AFTER AN INTAKE SERVICE.

Yesterday, the car was delivered back to me and we put it into my storage unit down here in Ohio.

Now that I've had time to inspect the motor and the head, I'm amazed. This motor looks really good. The head gasket looks almost new. My original plan was to replace both head gaskets, but now I think I'll just replace the one.

I've decided I'm going to get the intake, cam covers, and water bridge powdercoated. So my first order of business last night was to inventory things and disassemble the intake and water bridge. Tonight I'll tackle the cam covers.

I'll update this thread as I progress through this. Maybe someone will catch one of my many mistakes, and maybe someone will learn something too.

I didn't have my camera with me last night, but I did take a couple of crappy cell phone pics. It looks like a lot of work, but it should be fun work!

AO

BTW, This is what the car looked like last year before I sold it.

Marine Blue

Congrats on getting it back Andrew. Good luck with the restoration and keep posting pics as you make progress.

Don't forget to give some of your attention to your other mistress, wouldn't want her to get left out!

linderpat

Cool, keep the pics coming.

goodspeed928

Jack's car, cool

AO

No... my car... again! Cool!

Jadz928

Andrew,
Please allow me to be an idiot for the moment....

I was under the impression the engine needs to be removed prior to removing the heads. How did you do it magicman?

btw, congrats on getting the car back.

AO

1st off, I didn't remove the head. Jack did, so he's the magician.

Secondly, I believe it's the 85/86 that are near impossible to remove in situ. The 87+ heads use bolts, not studs, so there are no clearance issues.

goodspeed928

That is good car!
Have fun with it!

SwayBar

Good job Andrew!

Jim M.

Another one saved! Good job. I guess this will keep you out of the bars or chasing co-eds on campus.

Turning over an engine by hand would not have told you there was a pebble in one of the cylinders.

S4ordie

I was questioning the same thing unless it was a big pebble, more like a small stone, that would cause interference between the piston and one of the valves. Are there other ways hand turning the engine would have indicated something was in the cylinder?

Dean_Fuller

AMAZING the rock in the cylinder did no damage. Someone must be living right. Congrats Andrew.

123quattro

Andrew, I've used these guys for all my powder coating jobs. They do a very good job and prices are pretty reasonable. I can help get the parts over there if you want to use them.

Q. C. Coatings

Randy V

Andrew enjoys Soft Rock.