No, leave them at home. All they need is the head with the valves.

 

Most likely I am going to send it to WMW.....Does anyone have experience shipping a head?...If so how did you pack it up and what carrier did you use....

 

If you can use a double wall corrugated box, that strength will help, as the head is reasonably heavy. Make sure to pack it with plenty of padding and to pack it very tightly. You don't want it moving around in the box or it's more likely to get damaged. Plenty of good qaulity tape holding the outside of the box together, as well.

I shipped a set of headlights across the country one time. The purchaser reported that the outside of the package looked like it had been delivered by Ace Ventura, but due to solid packing the contents were fully intact.

 

Finally got the head shipped out to WMW....I made a small wooden crate for it...wrapped it in plastic then shot some minimal expansion foam around it to hold it in place....Then put some foam board pieces in to fill the spaces.....
Cost a little over $50 to ship from Pa to Atlanta....I think the weight was around 35 lbs..
..

 

Update on the valve work....Sent the head to WMW and upon inspection they found a crack.....Sucks but what can you do...Way sourced me a used one and switched everything over...So now the whole process of putting everything back together begins...Had a great experience working with Way and his shop...

 

Good luck on the reinstall - looks like you took good care to prep the work as you went for reinstall. Major engine work is like 99% organization and 1% annoying bolts that no human was made to reach.

I just had my JCW fire a plug out of the #3 cylinder about 4 or 5 months ago. I was too far from home to have it towed there, nor did I really have time to pull my head for a new thread insert, so I had the dealer take care of it...

$3k later and thank christ there were no cracks in my head on the leakdown.

Honestly, R53 engines are generally so robust that I see no reason to not keep them going. N14's on the other hand... Let's just say that after the deathrattle fix, a new clutch with that godawful dual mass flywheel, continued "normal" oil consumption of 1 quart per 1000 miles, and yet another timing chain tensioner fail and likely HPFP and camshaft failing, I cleared all the codes about a mile away from carmax and got my wife out of that pit and into a 2016 focus ST.

And my little R53 with a twinscrew, lots of boost, and 160k miles has had exactly one modestly expensive failure despite being nearly 20 years old

 

Great work! Any idea what caused the destroyed valve? Is your car stock or does it have any mods?

 

While waiting for all the assorted pieces that go with putting a head back on I scraping off the old gasket material.....It's a real ***** to get clean....Hot and humid hear in eastern Pa so I don't spend a lot of time in the garage.....

 

My trick was to just jam towels down all the channels and into the pistons and run some 320 grit on a flat bar around. The deck could likely use a little roughing up anyways to help the gasket mate.

 

A scotchbrite pad and some brake cleaner work well without being too aggressive to clean and prep the gasket surface.

What part of eastern PA? Definitely hot and humid lately! I'm in the Lancaster/Hbg area.

 

A mechanic friend of mine told me to take a piece of copper pipe ...hammer the end flat and file the edge to make a scraper....it actually works pretty good....after scraping I go over it with scotchbrite pad...Been trying some different solvents...Corrosion X.....Brake cleaner....

 

Gonna take a break from removing head gasket material and clean the injectors and fuel rail.....

 

Finally got all the old head gasket off and cleaned everything up...Drained remaining oil out of the crank case...Cleaned head bolt holes..Just about ready for reassembly ....
Is there a way to get the remaining coolant out of the block? I'm sure there is some stuff in there from cleaning the head gasket off....I plan to do a complete flush once everything is back together but I would like to get as much out as I can now...
Also when reinstalling the coolant temp sensor does some type of thread sealant need to be put on?...The previous one looks like it had something on the treads....
Getting excited for it to see the light of day again...Been in the garage since December...

 

It has (but I dont know what it is)

 

You can buy a tube of thread sealer at the auto parts store. Not sure how small of one, though. You could also just use a couple of wraps of thread sealing tape. Takes up less space around the garage and has a longer shelf life.

 

Got the head bolted down last night ...along with exhaust/intake manifolds .....chain guides and tensioner ....I ended up using a shop vac to get the remaining coolant out(or as much of it as I could).....Used Teflon thread tape on the coolant sensor...

 

Cam...Cam sprocket and rockers installed

 

It's ready for a coolant flush and fill......Fill it with some oil...crank the motor a few times....then give it some spark...

 

That looks clean!

 

first start video or it didn’t happen! 😛

 

I love all of the details you supplied. This will be a good thread for someone that needs assistance in the future.

 

 

Took it for a five mile shakedown and everything seems in order.....This was by far the most ambitious car project to date....Not as tough as I thought it might be but it was labor intensive.....
Huge thank you to Way at WMW for all the help with the head.....and to everybody else that contributed to the thread....
Project prolly cost somewhere around $1900 by the time I was done....Not cheap but I'm glad to have the R53 back on the road...

 

Congrats on completing this project! Totally jealous of how clean everything looks under to hood of your R53.