cruise98

Clifton beat me to it. It looks like the cam belt tensioner roller is on backwards.

User 41221

Assuming you havea basically stock engine, the original studs should be fine, assuming you see no obvious problems with them. I'd stick with a widefire hg as well.

Mark-87-951

I think Chris nailed the cause. Since he pointed out that stud I remembered it surprised me by coming out when I removed the tensioner and I had trouble getting it back in because I forgot to use the double nut method. I feel pretty stupid but at least the cause is known and I can fix it.

Mark-87-951

huntley chips, 15psi boost but the turbo has only been hitting maybe 10psi lately. Also, 3 bar FPR and cheap aftermarket headers. I figure a good part of the low boost is I still have the original wastegate but I have a tial I'm going to put on eventually.

I was thinking of a Cometic head gasket as it seems Lindsey found and had a major cause of leaking corrected from what I found on the forum.

951Saga

Really the only way to do this is to switch the cam tensioner roller with the balance belt tensioner roller. Otherwise you’d be unable to adjust them with the adjusting nut towards the motor.

Mark-87-951

Turns out one of tbe copper gaskets at the header to crossover connection failed. It clearly elongated, enough to distort the bolt hole as well. Head will be off tomorrow and I'll post pics. I was getting tired and didn't want to mess with those internal cam tower belts while yawning.

I'm hoping what I find won't be so horrifying that the following is not a completely rational and well thought out response

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsx2vdn7gpY

Mark-87-951

Well darn cell phone battery is flaking out so no pics yet. I got the head off though. All valves struck the pistons as evidenced by marks on all pistons. All intake valves are not seating so they are bent. I can't tell if the exhaust valves are not seated properly though, but best bet to assume they are bent I guess since they obviously hit. There is a lot of build up from my turbo's blown seals but I'll have to put off fixing that now for quite a bit longer. On a good note, the wide fire head gasket was in very good shape.

Mark-87-951

Finally got pics with the head off.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1422638...7626846544134/

So what's a good way to clean the piston tops and can I just sand down the piston impact marks?

Chris White

Be very careful when you clean the pistons, the least bit of that hard carbon between the piston and the cylinder wall with trash the cylinder in no time. Usually fill the gap with heavy grease and then vacuum it out (shop vac with a duct tape adapter to fuel line) before rotating the engine.

Wire brush and plastic scraper work well for getting the carbon off.

JohnKoaWood

I used this tip on my NA head gasket job earlier this year, and also used this:
http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CCkQ8wIwAg#
to soften / loosen / remove the carbon from the piston tops..

Grease fills the gap, gasket remover softens everything up, vacuum removes it in no time at all!