I will have the head ported by a professional here. Mostly just a port matching job and a quick polish for now ... I dont have 2K to drop on a hean right now

Also thx i will go with the APR studs since i plan on maybe opening up the head in the future again

What should i be llooking for in the rocker assembly ?

Like mentionned before ... blown head gasket is the modt obvious choice ... but when everything will be opened (since i plan on upgrading everything at the same time) I will have a look at the piston rings for signs of degradation



Lastly i do not plan on touching the valve openings/sizes for now just to avoid any further problems ... but maybe in the future ... one never knows

The only thing you have to worry about with the rocker arms is when you set them back in place. The little plastic retainer rings can get pinched. Have your head guy check to see if the cam rocks back n fourth when its dry and all apart. Or clamp down the cam with the cam bearing caps only without rocker arm shafts and see if the cam gets tight. It needs to spin freely. And get a "newman cam" in there!

Again its Colin, but anyway.
Sounds like if you had a really high quality head it would be sorted
Sad to see mini mania could not cover that.
good luck with the rebuild

One question....ever find the cause of the water in the oil? Or WHY it would not start/run?
You have lots of good preventive MX stuff listed, but did you actually fix anything or just take it apart, the reassemble it? I understand you just hoping the bottom end is OK, but if it is all apart, did you check the pistons/rings? block for SQUARE and the head? YOU know it was overheated badly..and would not run...find out WHY it would not run...the head gasket can be CAUSE or EFFECT....
Sounds like you have lots of good parts and a decent plan, hopefully it will be running soon!
My gut says if you have a CAM, you will want bigger injectors and a tune when you can scrape up the cash!!

I found my old shrick cam if youre interested- i wish i could erase. I guess both my cams in my garage are stock. I though one was a shrick. Not sure if they are worth anything. -sorry

Thx but i think im going to leave the head/cam as is for now and wait for the summer and more cash flow in order to change the head/cam/injectors and a tune all at once ... dunnno

Would it be ok to just change the camshaft for now eventhough the car has about 140000km (87.5k miles) ... could putting a new camshaft with old valves and seals cause a problem ???

car wasnt starting since the gasket broke between cylinder 1 and 2 (checked the spark plugs and they were really wet). Car could start with only one cylinder not working although it would really not work well. But since i had water in two cylinders it was impossilbe for the car to start


Now i just need to wait for the parts to arrive ... hope its soon

lots of water in cylinders 1 and 2 was found


At least now car is reassembled but when we came to start it up we found a fuel leak
Now we just have to find that LEAK

Fuel Leak, Just check the barb fitting on the fuel rail. I have had them not seat all the way before.
its pretty uncommon to have a bad fuel leak on these cars.

perfect ll check that very soon and report back ... im sure its not a big problem

That water falls into the cylinder when removing the head, not when the car is running (or it would stop running in a great hurry). Good luck with your fuel leak.

^that.

so the fuel leak headed up being a worn out gasket on injector 1. the gasket in question is the one between the fuel rail and the injector ... parts should arrive sometime tmrw morning

Now a quick question regarding injectors. When i took the fuel rail out i had to leave the injectors in the intake manifold since i could not get them out. Unfortunatly when doing so i removed the retaining clips on the injectors.
Now when comes time to put everything back together I was wondering where in which groove of the injectors did the clip go into. Is it the one closest to the fuel rail (goes completement around the injector) or is it the lower one (groove on either side) ???

Also are there any tips for installing the fuel rail with the injectors already in the manifold ?

Thx in advance

'Can't help you with your question, but if one gasket is worn out, the others are likely mostly worn as well. I'd replace all four.

I am only replacing the worn out gasket since i plan on moving to bigger injectors this summer anyways

As for my problem i was able to figure it out ... the clips go on the lower groove and can be snap in place when the fuel rail is pushed down hence i dont need to remove the injectors as of yet

Well after 2 months of not having a car and having to run around to gather parts. Multiple nights of dispair thinking to myself that i would never finish.

THE JOB IS COMPLETED !

Now i cant wait to go for a long drive

I would replace all 8 0 rings its about 12 dollars, also make sure that your fuel pressure regulator hose is hooked up.
Glad to see that you are up and running.

Reason i didnt change all the orings is that they are 11$ each here in montreal if bought from the dealer. so 12*11=$132 plus taxes
As mentionned the injectors will be changed this summer so ...