Background, coolant was coming out the exhaust so I did a compression test and got 120 psi on all cylinders w/a cold test, I pulled plugs and #3, i think[closest to passenger] was wet and looked like it had no combustion going on either. Exhaust note sounded a bit lunky and the motor ran a bit rough. The vac gauge read -20psi[whatever that is in Hg's] as it has since it was rebuilt.

So...I pulled the engine thinking the HG was toast however when I pulled the intake assembly off I noticed both surfaces on the heads around the coolant passage were dirty and none of the 6 intake bolts were very snug and 1 was barely more than hand tight.

Should I go at it and pull the t belts and do the HG's anyways or install the new intake gaskets and kick myself for not checking the intake bolts/gasket before pulling the engine.

There was a good 1/8 of an inch of grease around the #1-3 coolant passage on the head/intake gasket.

Any help/opinions/ suggestions appreciated.

With all the cylinders reading the same. I would think your head gaskets are fine. If it were me, I'd just change the intake gaskets.

yeah 120 psi on a turbo is not too bad, I'm almost positive it was the intake gasket.

Since you have the motor out, might as well check your T-belts. If they are cracked, replace em, and keep the old ones as spares. Might think about a oil pump reseal and a water pump reseal. Only cost ya 15 bucks and its 10x easier since you have the engine already out of the car.

 

Does the car leak oil from the cam cases? If so, might as well pull the cam cases off reaseal those with Ultra Grey and replace the oil passage oring located at the bottom of the cam case going to the head.

 

How many miles are on the hg's? and has it been overheated more then once? If ya got the money, might as well change em.

 

30 bucks a piece for head gaskets, 15 bucks for oil pump/water pump reseal. 3 bucks a piece for the cam case o ring for the oil passage. 5 bucks for a tube of ultra grey. cam seals, 10 bucks a piece. front main seal 10 bucks. 120/130 bucks you could reseal it and not have to worry about it for another 40k miles

new intake gaskets. try that first....make sure all the old gasket material is cleaned off first.

I've got all the gaskets I need for a complete reseal but time is the issue right now, trying to get it done tonight. going to do the intake gaskets and once I've got more time do all the gaskets and a new clutch too, maybe the rings bearings etc. or get this spare done up.

30 bucks a piece for head gaskets, 15 bucks for oil pump/water pump reseal. 3 bucks a piece for the cam case o ring for the oil passage. 5 bucks for a tube of ultra grey. cam seals, 10 bucks a piece. front main seal 10 bucks. 120/130 bucks you could reseal it and not have to worry about it for another 40k miles

Our prices in Canuckistan are a little steeper... 65 for hg's, 23 for mickey mouse w/ o-ring, cam tower o-rings are about the same tho.

The OEM exhaust gaskets I got look thicker than the oem's from last time, is there a difference between n/a and turbo ones? cause I'm thinkin that they gave me the n/a ones last time.

na and turbo exh gaskets are the same.

the thicker ones are better. it makes a better cushion, sealing any rough spots out.

 

 

Either way, both will work.