milano project update

[ethan schartman <eschartman@domain.elided>]

esteemed digesters,

the head work i am doing on my 2.5L V6 is taking
longer than anticipated. but i'm finally in the home
stretch.

until last night i was getting pretty sick of the
effort. then i went driving with my friend in his '90
VW GTI. the whole time i was thinking about how
wonderful my V6 sounds by comparison. and that i think
has given me the push needed to finish this right.

when i pulled the heads to replace the two intake
valves that i bent, i removed all the valves to check
them for perpendicularity (more than .0005 out and i
replace). in the process i found much to my chagrin
that two valves which i replaced earlier (sordid tale
of me, broken detensioners and bent valves. now, ugly
or not i am going with a zat style) had abnormal wear.
somehow the guides (which i also replaced) were too
tight. i have no idea how that happened - i couldn't
even get a brand new valve all the way into the guide
(i'm sure they weren't that tight 8k miles ago)! so i
reamed them out (9mm) and they feel good now.
incidentally i'm sure pretty sure i didn't mushroom
them on installation, 'cause i used liquid nitrogen to
shrink them so they slid right in (and stand-off to
get the right depth).

several of the exhaust valves have some orbital play,
and i was originally going to stick my head in the
sand and wait till rebuild #3 (tongue in cheek) and
not worry about them. but replacing valve guides isn't
particularly arduous - especially since i have a
spankin' valve spring tool, now. so after last night i
am ready to delay re-installation a few more days to
get this part right. i don't know how long i'll keep
this car, but i'd feel like a complete wanker telling
prospective buyers that the exhaust valve guides would
need to be replaced relatively soon!

besides, i am going to be delayed with the replacement
of the rear motor mount, anyway. instead of doing it
under the car, i just removed the bell housing and
have taken it to my shop:)

BTW, anyone have a clue how guides might have gone out
of spec like that? 

eagerly anticipating the wonderful V6,
-ethan schartman
princeton, NJ
'87 milano gold 
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