"Well that's your problem" with pictures!

[essi1553]

I'm not new to fixing cars, plus I have a guy who knows everything about everything (dad), or at least he thinks he does, helping me out. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

DO YOU SEE, DO YOU SEE?!


If you can't then here: (Seems like the tensioner broke, made sure the next one I bought had the Z127 stamped on it)


Took it all apart, whole motor was filthy, my hands are still black:



Looks like no one ever cleaned anything when they performed maintenance: (many of the records I have from the car are from bmw dealerships...) You might think thats suprising, but its not.


Cleaned and "rebuilt injectors":


Went a little ocd:


Head gasket placed, and tightened, with new hex bolts...



What im anticipating as potential problems: the bitch tube, a couple of bolts on the intake manifold, bleeding her, and keeping it below 55 until I break her back in. Clues, hints, tricks appreciated. I've researched quite a bit, r3v has it all buried in here somewhere. If you have some questions I actually have some answers too.

More to come..... Her name is Stella.

[TurboJake]

You really don't need to keep it under 55 to "Break it back in". You didn't mess with the rings, which is what people refer to when breaking an engine in. Of which, beating the living shit out of it post engine rebuild is better. Tried and true by THOUSANDS of people and lots of race teams.

Bitch tube. Compress the spring and zip tie it, install everything. When installed, cut zip ties. Bitch tube made easy.

[1owNslo]

NOOB question... what is the bitch tube?? im about to start tearing my m20 apart... so this is probably a good time to ask what you guys are talking about..

[essi1553]

Thanks for the tip jake, I did read that somewhere, sounded promising, in theory. But please I don't need anymore reasons to lose my license again.

NOOB question... what is the bitch tube?? im about to start tearing my m20 apart... so this is probably a good time to ask what you guys are talking about..

The bitch tube aka PCV pipe runs fron the bottom of your intake manifold into the bottom of the engine block. Its a bitch because it has a spring attached to the bottom of the tube and two washers, one for the top and one for the bottom need to be installed. The problem comes due to the low visibility of the area in which it needs to be installed, and the fact that the bastards attached a spring to a pipe.

[1owNslo]

ahh ok.... can the spring be removed after it has been taken out? or does it need to go back on once that tube is re installed?

[essi1553]

ahh ok.... can the spring be removed after it has been taken out? or does it need to go back on once that tube is re installed?

Hey buddy, you can't go making your car lightweight by discarding the spring. It lives in the car, and it must go back home. :)

[1owNslo]

lol nah just asking. i knew nothing of this spring tilll this thread. thanks for the info!

[essi1553]

Sure thing, I'll take some more pictures, it easy cause everything is mostly still out. If you have any more questions don't be shy. Also don't be scared of taking it apart, it just a whole bunch of little jobs, mark your wires, do your research and play very close attention to timing everything, besides torquing the head down thats the most important part.

[1owNslo]

lol im not scared at all.. i was a VW tech for about 3 years or so before i got my new job... if you want to see fear... try repairing a blown body harness in an 05 VR6 touareg... that my friend is pure evil

[essi1553]

I can't imagine, or maybe I just don't want to. Ugh. Then its the inconvenience tube.

[1owNslo]

lol what a shit hole of a car that thing was. anyway i guess ill have my first meeting with the newly named inconvenience tube in about a month or so. just gotta get a damn garage unit at my apartment and the build thread will commence.

[meengreene30]

Sorry to hear Essie, how did the valves check out? The intake nuts aren't bad with a combo of extensions.

[AwakenNoMore]

This all looks very familiar lol. Good work so far.

[rhE-30]

Lol at "inconvenience tube" , my first experience with it brought me to the point where i made it shorter with a hacksaw. I had to source a new one.

[essi1553]

Sorry to hear Essie, how did the valves check out? The intake nuts aren't bad with a combo of extensions.

Well lets just say that head is now garbage... Tensioner snapped, took the top with it, luckily valves werent bent or anything, looks like the rockers took the grunt of it. I'm just happy I have a busted head I can experiment with now. I just hope I can get it done before it gets cold out.

lol "made it shorter with a hacksaw, I had to source a new one" - Classic!

Thanks for the vote of confidence - AwakenNoMore