No compression on #7

[RLDSL]

You're going to have to yank the engine. No good way to inframe that thing. Supposedly , you can get the pan off by removing the motor mount bolts and lifting the engine, but after swapping engines in mine, I don't think there would be much room to work, and you'll probably end up pulling the engine in the long run.
If you take the core support out it makes the job doable. I sure wouldn't want that much weight swinging off a cherry picker coming out over the top.

If you remove the cover toward the engine side to the AC evaporator it gives a bunch more room on that side.

I'd be hesitant to leave that piston in. It doesn't look like it's cracked....yet, but it also hasn't been under load since the valve munchies. It's anybodies guess what will happen if you loaded it up. That thing got some chunks out of it.

-------Robert

 

[smitty97]

If you remove the cover toward the engine side to the AC evaporator it gives a bunch more room on that side.

how does that heater box cover come off?? ive been swearing at that thing from the start. i had to ding up the valve cover to get it out of there.

 

[RLDSL]

how does that heater box cover come off?? ive been swearing at that thing from the start. i had to ding up the valve cover to get it out of there.

You've got a handful of screws sandwiching the halves together, then a nut or two against the firewall, and one long bolt that you have to go inside at the passenger side footwell, just below the heater box you'll see it, 7/16 I believe., then the engine side half will come off and give you about 3-5 extra inches to work in there. Makes it much easier to get to .
--------Robert

 

[smitty97]

ok, ill be diving into this over the weekend. parts came in!

i got the chunk of valve out of the head. only the valve was damaged, the seat is in remarkably good shape. the new valve should seat no problem.

anyway, i dont have service manuals... can someone tell me the cylinder head, rocker arm, and intake bolt torques and sequences?

thanks!

 

[smitty97]

IT IS ALIVE!

Big thanks to all who helped.. Now i guess ill take it to the shop to get tuned.
the motor idles smooth, theres a little white smoke on light accel and some black on heavy accel.

have a beer for me!

 

[KR69IDI]

What exactly did you do to it..change piston and rings, or just the valve? CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

 

[smitty97]

just the valve. no way i was taking the motor out!

 

[Diesel JD]

Well lets hope it continues to work for you... you are one lucky dude so far. I had a similar decision to make when I changed my head gaskets. I had some GP tip damage on #4 cylinder, albeit not as bad as your valve damage. I got some advice form the guys on the other site to just run it till it blows. In each case the piston wasn't cracked just surface dinging, no damage to the bore, so we are lucky, for awhile anyway. In my case it has bought me at least 4 years and 36,000 miles.

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

Although I know exactly where you are coming from as far as putting something back together without a complete rebuild, I would still do a compression check on the damaged cylinder just so you know can establish a baseline against the other cylinders, as well as have a reference for if/when you decide to check it down the road. If you check it now and then in several thousand miles, you'll know if the damage was somewhat superficial or if you damaged the piston enough to effect the rings seating in the cylinder bore, thus diminishing compression on that cylinder.

I've put a seized piston back in a snowmobile engine (thank you to the field mice for building that nest inside the fan cooled dog house) and ran it for thousands of miles with no problems. It is in fact still running, so sometimes damaged stuff works just fine for years to come.

Good luck

R. J.

 

[KR69IDI]

Although I know exactly where you are coming from as far as putting something back together without a complete rebuild, I would still do a compression check on the damaged cylinder just so you know can establish a baseline against the other cylinders, as well as have a reference for if/when you decide to check it down the road. If you check it now and then in several thousand miles, you'll know if the damage was somewhat superficial or if you damaged the piston enough to effect the rings seating in the cylinder bore, thus diminishing compression on that cylinder.

I've put a seized piston back in a snowmobile engine (thank you to the field mice for building that nest inside the fan cooled dog house) and ran it for thousands of miles with no problems. It is in fact still running, so sometimes damaged stuff works just fine for years to come.

Good luck

R. J.

You've had better luck at that than I have. I tried it once with a 2 stroke motorcycle and it only ran for about 5 minutes!!!!

 

[eyoung429]

Well, I've got to hand it to you for living dangerously.....I would have pulled the block as that piston has taken quite a beating. Did you drop the pan and pull the cap off that rod to see if there's bearing damage at least? You have to remember that the bearings are softer than even the piston not to mention the beating the rod and piston pin took before it wedged that valve head in the port.

just food for thought.