bent valves?

[Cabriolet]

when you put the new head on.

A. check to make sure both the block and the head are at TDC. it's very very easy to see on an M20.

B. after butting the bent and tensioner on. leave it loose and let the spring do it's job. crank the crank, by hand 4x around. then check your timing marks. if the still line up then tighten down the tensioner. if they are off, re do the belt. *crank the same way the engine turns.*

C. you cannot reuse normal oem headgaskets or headbolts.

[craiggroves91]

when you put the new head on.

A. check to make sure both the block and the head are at TDC. it's very very easy to see on an M20.

B. after butting the bent and tensioner on. leave it loose and let the spring do it's job. crank the crank, by hand 4x around. then check your timing marks. if the still line up then tighten down the tensioner. if they are off, re do the belt. *crank the same way the engine turns.*

C. you cannot reuse normal oem headgaskets or headbolts.

Was just going to say the same thing!
I got lucky when I did my t-belt and headgasket and got the timing right first try. Its really not that tough

[fannman]

Yeah Im ordering new gaskets and bolts for it. It sucks because I just put new ones on but Im gonna run a goetez gasket like I've read. The reason I'm doing all this is my VR gasket failed after 3k of putting it on. The first time I checked the timing I must have loostened the tensioner when I was putting on the cover for some reason and screwed it up. I will not be making this mistake again. I did it right when I rebuilt the motor 3k ago but this time I rushed myself causing mistakes. I will report back with the damage. Lets hope my pistons are not damaged.

[jlevie]

When you replaced the gasket last time, did you have the head surfaced? I've yet to see a used head that didn't have some warp. So I always have the head surfaced.

[fannman]

I just got the head surfaced this time. I didnt the last time which was a rookie mistake. Im still learning a lot about these things. I'm pretty sure I found the issue. Was starting to pull the intake manifold off. Found that there was two gaskets that had two stuck together thick and two only had one causing a decent gap. That could have been the issue throwing my ecu off trying to dump fuel to compensate for the huge amount of vac leak that caused. Will report back after I fix it.

[fannman]

Well it turns out the vac leak caused by the intake manifold was the issue. I got it all back together and its running really nicely. The ecu still needs to get the idle back to a smooth steady idle but after a few days of driving that should be fixed.

[SeatTime]

You lap those valves in? Run it for a bit (operating temp) and do the compression check again warm. Make sure you're seeing the same value across all cylinders.