Rust in 1 cylinder....

[srgtlord]

Well finally got the cam gear off after smacking it repeatedly with a hammer and the head removed only to find rust and corrosion in 1 cylinder I found a 3 notch head gasket on the engine, which makes absolutely no sense because the head looks like it has less than 100,000 miles on it i.e. no cracks. Anyways, my question is....could I get away with honing the crap out of this engine and putting just rings in?

[maxfax]

Pends on how bad the rust is..  Did the engine spin over? Are there pits in the cylinder walls or will it come off with some scuffing?  If you could get a pic that may help.. If nothing else, chase a hone down through it and see how well it cleans up..  Ideally would be to measure the bore after honing to see how much wear there actually is...

BTW, The head has nothing to do with the thickness of the head gasket..  It's all about how much the pistons stick up out of the block on TDC...  

[monomer]

If the head been resurfaced, wouldn't the valves come a bit closer to the pistons?


Is it rust in cylinder 4? I had the same problem, it was so bad that the engine wouldn't turn by hand. After pulling the head, I found rust and mold in cylinder 4.


I have no idea how, as the manifold was intact. Scraped all the rust with a razor and some brake clean. little pitting and ridges.



Good luck. Measure piston protrusion and get the proper gasket. I've heard of mechanics using a 3 notch all the time, as it saves them time measuring (and maybe not screwing it up)

[rabbitman]

If the head been resurfaced, wouldn't the valves come a bit closer to the pistons?

Yes but there's also a spec for that too, if the valves are recessed in the head to the proper spec after a resuface then you won't have a problem using the right HG.

Seems like someone on hear had a resurfaced head that was putting valve prints on the head a while ago and it was because the valves weren't recessed enough.

[Toby]

OR the cam timing was off.

[maxfax]

You beat me to the draw Rabbitman.. And to add to it, if you're skimming that much off the head in one shot, it probably should have been straightened in the first place...

Seems like someone on hear had a resurfaced head that was putting valve prints on the head a while ago and it was because the valves weren't recessed enough.

I think I remember that one..  Pulled the head several times to remeasure protrusion, and even went as far as to measure the HG thickness to make sure it was right IIRC..

OR the cam timing was off.

I could have been.. But it wasn't..