Need some suggestions on what to do

[joonsup]

A leakdown is always useful if you plan to only overhaul the top half of the engine.

ok i'll keep that in mind. thanks for the info

[Farbin Kaiber]

A leakdown is always useful if you plan to only overhaul the top half of the engine.

[joonsup]

Was that done with the engine hot or cold? Did you do a wet/leakdown test to verify the seal @ the piston rings?

it was done hot. i thikn after 3 or 4 cranks it was at around 150 and then the next crank it shot up to like 180. I did not do a wet test afterwards b/c I figured that I'd do a wet test if the compression was low to see if it sealed up any leaks? Maybe i'm wrong

[Farbin Kaiber]

Was that done with the engine hot or cold? Did you do a wet/leakdown test to verify the seal @ the piston rings?

[joonsup]

Well, it does have 250k on it. I'd have it surfaced to minimize any chances of warp, and replace the valve stem seals, and maybe the guides too. Also, at that time they can recut the valves, or lap them to improve compression numbers.

hmmm ok i'll have to keep track of all this. In regards to compression numbers i did compression test not too long ago at home and they all came out to about 150 each cylinder. I think that's within spec?

And any idea how much it cost a shop to resurface head ballpark figure and how long it'll take? thanks

[Farbin Kaiber]

Well, it does have 250k on it. I'd have it surfaced to minimize any chances of warp, and replace the valve stem seals, and maybe the guides too. Also, at that time they can recut the valves, or lap them to improve compression numbers.

[joonsup]

hmm. is it a no brainer that when you take the head out, you send it to a machine shop for resurfacing?

[Farbin Kaiber]

that's a lot of mileage. find a good longblock, and swap your maintenance parts onto it. swap out the old, tired engine, and throw a new clutch disc in while you are at it, or your friend is at it. Prolly take about the same ammount of time sending the head out to the machine shop would set you back.

[joonsup]

So a friend of mine checked out my car b/c I told him that after seafoaming, my car got a lot more noisy. He found out that my camshaft had grooves and suggested that that could be the cause of the loss of torque along with the additional noise. I guess the seafoam cleaned off all that gunk on the camshaft so it exposed those "grooves".

He said I could replace the camshaft unless I could live with the noise and the less torque. As for me, I would like to at the minimum get back to the original specs if possible (250k miles on the motor).

The main hurdle for me is the money. Otherwise I would look for an s50/s52 motor and do a swap and call it a day. However, I need to factor in costs of parts AND labor whichever route I choose. Unlike many of you guys out there I am not much of a mechanic when it comes down to working on the car.

A friend of mine who did my timing belt has a good condition stock cam and he would be able to replace it for me at a reasonable rate. I already have a new head gasket kit, bolts, nuts, and timing belt ready for when it gets swapped out.

I just don't want to regret not upgrading anything while the head is out, and I am thinking that maybe I should just save up longer until I CAN afford to do an upgrade on certain part(s).

My e30 is my daily driver/commuter car to work, but I am hoping that I can have it ready for the track by thanksgiving as far as engine reliability and performance. Any thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated. Sorry for the long post.