Mission Impossible- In situ head removal EJ20....

[Big Kas]

Hey Guys,

New member but a long time scooby fan.
To cut a long story short my 1993 JDM rex failed a sniff test a few days ago ( caught early - no overheating/smoke/gloop in oil) just the tiniest bubbles spotted in coolant.

Garages are closed, my engine lift and stand are 170 miles from me. Rebuilt a few Ej25's over the last few years - Aerospace engineer by proffesion-how hard can this be? Lol

Ej205 DOHC - Heads need to come off and engine needs to stay in car... by hook or crook.... lol

I will hopefully update as I go along, may also try upload some short youtube videos as I go along the skin on my knuckles will be a distant memory to me....

Or I may give up half way through and wait till lockdown is over lets see haha so far the alternator and rad are off

[Big Kas]

https://youtu.be/TGre8SdzgUQ

Quick video of it revving last year, have put on a quieter 3 inch turbo back since then

[HYDROSCOBY]

Welcome to ses mate. Sorry to hear the gasket has gone. Hopefully you will get this sorted mate

[Stuart Fordyce]

Good luck! Looking forward to seeing how you get on.

[Big Kas]

So just a quick update so far, hit my first sticking point,

Manifold and all lines and wires connecting to the heads are detached , so we are good to go from the top side.

Underneath the exhaust manifold needs to come off, problem is the bleedin heatin shield are rusted solid. Have angle grinded some of the shield bolts off howevee some cant be reached by the grinder. May end up having to cut the shields off to access the manifold nuts.

[Big Kas]

So unfortunately Ive had to call it quits with this rebuild.
Took off the heat shield to find the manifold bolts are rusted to f***k . Dont think in 27 years they have ever been removed so I think this is going to be an engine out jobby will have to wait till the covid 19 situation dies down to get my engine lift. Oh well was worth a shot lol

[Red Baron]

That's a shame, at least with it out you'll be able to attack it properly and do any other little jobs that are easy to do with it on a stand.

[Big Kas]

Just an update on this guys, I did the sensible thing and took it to Neil at slowboy racing. New headgaskets, heads skimmed, ARP studs and timing belt done. Drives better than ever. And i didnt have to mess around on my driveway lol