Pulled the head and found a suprise!

[nomansland92]

So i have the 88' ix and im doing the head gasket. Since the p/o never did the head bolt update one of the bolts was snapped. but after i got it all torn down and took the head off i was amazed on how clean it was. it has 200k + miles on it. You can still see the crosshatching clearly and there is no edges on the wall at all. Then once i looked at the head i noticed the intake valves were so clean the guides looked perfict not one spec of dirt even the seats were all good. It looks so clean it almost makes me think it was rebuilt not long ago. I mean 200k miles and still see the cross hatchings, and the guides looking that good ( by the was that spot in the wall is not a score it was just the camara)
But If it was rebuilt Im sure they would have used new head bolts because why would they reuse the origanal hex bolts that were junked and stretched. So i don't think it was rebuilt but what a shock to find it this clean. So what are your ideas, Rebuilt or not?

[deutschman]

Cant see whats happening. Need large pictures!

[jlevie]

There may be more bore wear than is evident at the top of the cylinders. In fact I'll bet on it. The worst wear occurs at the bottom of the bore, but you can't see that without tearing down the bock and using a bore gage.

[MonkeyMadness]

I think your sparkplug gapping is to tight..

[george graves]

I'll edit this post with something meaningful after I buy a bigger monitor to see the picture.

[bernzpeed]

I'll edit this post with something meaningful after I buy a bigger monitor to see the picture.

lmfao... i had to move away from the monitor by a quarter mile.

[scottinAZ]

doesnt really surprise me one bit. When I did my headgasket at 281K miles mine looked much the same inside. As Jlevie says, there may be more wear at the bottom of the cylinders, however if the motor is running good, I wouldnt be excessively concerned about it at this time. button it up and drive it like you stole it.

[nomansland92]

Ya sorry about the large pictures i just uploaded them to image shack straight from my phone and that's how they came out.
Ya i really didn't think it was rebuilt, I guess even though the old owner never put new head bolts on he must of been using good gas and kept up with his oil changes. Ill be cleaning all day today and painting odds and ends tomorrow then its going back together.

Thanks for the input everyone

[nrubenstein]

My 333k M20 looks the same inside. Original head bolts on that one, too.

[MR 325]

Same here, just took apart a Super Eta that had a broken odometer at 302k. Original head bolts and it looked perfect inside. We're going to put an i head on it and run that bitch as is.

[KenC]

Plug gap is too small. Adjust to .36-.4

Aren't those black streaks blow-by?

Even an engine with a million miles is likely to have the crosshatching still. It's an iron block... the rings don't really wear it away.

[scottinAZ]

Even an engine with a million miles is likely to have the crosshatching still. It's an iron block... the rings don't really wear it away.

Tell that to a chevy with chrome faced rings, they get a massive ridge and wear out the crosshatch in 100K or less.

[KenC]

Tell that to a chevy with chrome faced rings, they get a massive ridge and wear out the crosshatch in 100K or less.

The BMW ones are pretty low tension.

[SpecM]

plus, the iron block has a pretty high nickel content... that makes it harder

[e30rapidic]

wow - never seen a spark plug that you gap in inches!