Thanks Greg! I am wondering what to do about the cam shaft with the #7 grade blot snapped off in it. Is it common for the cam shaft to get wasted as well?

It just seems like a he!! of a lot of force occured to cause the guide pin and the bolt to snap off the cam. Mike

 

Okay, my advice here is to pull the heads off, its really not that hard (getting them off that is), inspect the pistons for dents. It is acceptable for the pistons to have a little nick, thats common, but a hole or anything like that.... and the motor is gone.

Personally, I wouldn't bother rebuilding the heads. What I would do, is look for a used set of heads off eBay (they really do exist) and just install them. Remembering that you cannot reuse the head bolts because they are one use stretch bolts, and you will need to replace those. I'm sure you know you can't reuse the head gaskets too, they need to be replaced.

I am 95% sure that the camshaft would be okay.

Right now, what you need to do is do damage asessment. Pull the heads off and take a peek. If need be, take a pic and post on here so we can tell you if it is truely toast or not. More than likely you are okay, these motors are rock solid.

I would recomend against replacing the whole motor, for the reason of simplicity. It is a bitch and a half getting the motor inand out of that engine bay, im sure you could tell just by looking at it.

Although it may seem complicated, a head replacement isn't all that hard. Just buy yourself a Haynes or Chiltons manual so you can know what sequence you have to torque down the head bolts to, and you should be okay. The hardest part is going to be doing the timing belt. Don't want to get that wrong... and have to start all over again.

Good luck!

 

Well, I guess I will take your advice and at least take a look. To get the bolt that snapped off in the cam? There is none sticking out...it's flush.

It's still cold here in Indy so it may take a couple weeks before I can get into it and post the pics.

Is there a reason to replace the heads and not just rebuild them?

I am guessing the cost is nearly the same.

 

Not sure what size the bolt is, M10? M12?

I would start by trying to drill into it (1/8" bit, maybe 3/16"?) being careful not to drift out either side. Hopefully you can find a screw extractor of some kind to tap into the hole or maybe a reverse thread screw to get it out.

Hopefully since the bolt head is gone there's very little force on the threads and it will back out pretty easily.

 

Drill and tap always works : )

I say just replace the heads, because I have dealt with rebuilt heads before and they suck. Its just really hard to tell if what you are getting wasw built by someone that actually knew what they were doing.

 

As long as the damage is limited to the heads, I think I will replace them..problem is....everywhere I have looked wants $450 each.

Does anyone know a good place to get good heads??

 

Like I said, just look on ebay dude. Or go to a junk yard.

 

$900?? Holy crap. I guess I should cherish my local auto machine shop that charged me $485 including 10 replacement valves.
They went on great and gave me a trouble free 20k before I traded it in.

$450/side almost sounds closer to a remove, rebuild, replace quote.

 

i live in florida and just had my brother rebuild my 96 3.0 ,both heads cost me $500 total with valve seals

 

OK, I found a shop that rebuilt the heads for 290. After I put it back together and start it...I hear a ticking noise on the driver side. Does anyone have any sugestions on how to procede...I really don't want to pull this thing down again. It is not a super loud ticking butit is there.

Any ideas???