Engine Top End

[xintersecty]

I want to thank all the people who have followed this post and offered good advice. I will do a lessons learned with "whys" with regards to this project. I know others have done the same here and have the expertise, we just need to expertise passed on to newbies.

[xintersecty]

Lessons learned
1) Torque everything as you often surprised that bolts that really needed tighten are often under tight and the rest are often over tight.
2) Do not rebuild your own head. Your will spend more than you need. I bought the parts and by the time I found a shop and paid for the machining I spent over than the rebuild job at the shop.

Machine cost 280 includes deck resurface, valve guide replacement, and valve cut.
Parts 300
About 450 for the shop to rebuild and machine the head.

So I would say let the shop do it as they have better experience there.

3) Don't drag out the project. Parts rust and that means you need to clean the rust off when you put it back together. So I think that is causing my leaking exhaust header
4) Take way more pictures than you need. Usually I do however this time I did not and it hurt putting things back together.
5) Bag all your bolts and nuts. Label the bag.
6) Get a good idea on the procedures as I should have done more reading before I took the head off. As it turns out there is a unbolt sequenced and some parts should have been left together when removing the head

[WyrTwister]

All experience costs time or money , or both .

Experience is what you got when you did not got what you wanted .

Good to hear you got it all put back together .

Did you buy better quality parts than the machine shop would have purchased ?

Just shows you should get a quote , in writing first . Compare that to the cost of ram roding it yourself .

We live in a mostly dry climate . Rust is not that much of a problem . As a precaution , spray everything down with a light oil and bag or wrap in plastic .

I agree , the longer the project stretches out , the more problems .

You have an exhaust leak ? I missed that part . Header to head or header to cat / pipe ? Bad gasket ?

God bless
Wyr

[xintersecty]

Latest news. I had to drive down and pickup a friend in Augusta and take them back to Anderson. 300+ mile trip. So on the way back I was running the car hard and found out that all the water/radiator fluid was gone. So had to fill with water/whatever I could buy/antifreeze and now the thing overheats.

I have a brand new t-stat and been using the inside heat to keep temps around 114C.

Does this sound like I need to replace the radiator?

[WyrTwister]

Make sure the suction radiator hose is not collapsing due to suction .

Is it getting hot at highway speed or city driving ?

And you tell if the radiator fan or fans are working ?

Are you sure you have the cooling system full , now and the air burped out ?

Can you feel a definite temperature difference between the 2 radiator hoses ?

It boiled out the coolant you started with ?

Does it have a conventional tstat or an electric / electronic tstat , like the newer Sonics have ?

Do you have any coolant in the oil ? Oil in the coolant ?

God bless
Wyr

[06T200]

If you are sure the tstat is opening and the system is full, then it could be a plugged radiator. I have been able to 'flow test' them with a garden hose, there should be no restriction at full hose flow. If water has a hard time passing through it then that may be your culprit.

[WyrTwister]

Does your tstat look like this ?

Did you install it upside down or right side up ?

Best I remember , the end circled in red goes towards / into the engine ?

God bless
Wyr

[xintersecty]

If you are sure the tstat is opening and the system is full, then it could be a plugged radiator. I have been able to 'flow test' them with a garden hose, there should be no restriction at full hose flow. If water has a hard time passing through it then that may be your culprit.

Do you pull off both hoses and go to town? I am sure that's really fun in the winter.

Yeah, the T-Stat is installed correctly

[WyrTwister]

I used to use a garden hose to flush out a heater core . And , yes , it is interesting in the winter time .

It is possible you got a bad tstat ?

God bless
Wyr

[petrified.rabbit]

Possibility of a bad thermostat is high. Was this a one time thing, or does it always overheat now? how hot is overheating? how did you know?

Its not likely that the radiator is clogged, but it is not out of the question. If you ended up empty, it could be a leak. Which a slow leak is hard to detect, but a long road trip will make it steam out.