Jealous now you have steam cleaner....
copy that! I'm on my back under car on stands, scrubbing with brush and detergents... Life could be so much easier....
All, Some nice shiny inlets and some not so shiny exhaust valves. Taken with phone so not the greatest but I think we know where some of the oil is coming from at least!! This would explain the oil puffs on hot start and possibly under hard acceleration. Please comment on the exhaust port which looks like it has a large streak of oil in it. I haven't captured the perfect shot for this, if you look further up into the port, you can see the centre of the oil slick has removed all the coke and you can see the original polished surface. Is air being drawn in through the valve guides/seals? a Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Agree, I would pull heads if I would see this. Also 4 spark plugs tell a bit of the same story 1,3,5,6. Now let's hope they come off easily if you decide to pull them.
This is just a guess, but maybe what appears to be an oil streak is really an injector so clogged that it isn't delivering a spray of fuel but just a dribble.
Aside from any damaged/worn valves, guides, seats or followers. It is only the seals that you need to replace. I actually never replaced springs, only some followers (in other cars). You might want to hone your followers as in Bell's vids. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB-aAifmTrI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1vP1-YggCs Valve Job Basics (I like this one ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GEmuQa3dPY
antwan this is my opinion i don't post a lot but concerning your engine and the problems you have got. the first thin you must ask yourself what do you want from your car iff you are doing this work to make the car more sellable i would clean the engine and put it back in.iff you are keeping the car longterm and it is more a hobby and passion and you can do the work yourself i would take the heads off but it does not stop there. I brought my car over 15 years ago and i intend to keep it till the end when i first brought my car the enjoyment was driving and repairing.i did take it to some specialist when i was to busy for a standard servicing but having worked many years ago for a farrari dealership i had the capability to do work myself i considered my car one of the best it started it stop't and was in numerous photo shoots having owned the car for so long i have decided to do a full rebuild. i did a compression test and noticed 2 cylinders were not as good has they should have been so it was engine out to have a look. the liners were slightly worn on the two that were down i for got to mention it took 2 month of pulling banging lifting cursing to get the head off you might say i did not have the right equipment i made a head pullers that would pull 5 tone they bent eventually it came off so i decided to do the other side.on closer inspection i decided to get new liners they are all colour coded mime are blue you cannot swop them with a different colour so i had them replayed and homed then the expense. if you are keep the car than the expense starts creeping up. piston ring and loads more the damage to the heads and block mean you will have to have them skimmed i can tell you from expenses the reason the heads are so hard to get off ferrari test the engines from new and 90% of the head gaskets leak they then retalk the heads leaving the moisture between the head gaskets this then seals and over the year weld the heads together. your stud bolts are available from maranello but super performance sell mondial 8 which can be cut to the right size and re tap't but you will not be able to get them out iff you have not got the right equipment as they will not move. while you are in there you might as well do big end main bearings seals bearings i can tell you doing the work yourself parts to date is £6,000. i know that it will take a lot of money and time i have still a long way to go i estimate it will take 2 year but i can tell you if you enjoy getter your hand dirty and consider it more of a hobby you will have a great time kev
Oh oh, Sorry Antwan. If needed scuffed nikisil Liners can be resurfaced by any shop that works on Japanese Motorcycles. Get a gasket kit from Scotty, contains all you need, new valve seals too. I can see a ring job at least. Valve guides only need replaced if they they measure out of spec. Most of mine were fine. Be Very conservative when finally resurfacing the heads. Take off close to Nothing. Same with decking the block. If you have to pull any head studs, get a Real 11 mm Snap On stud puller, special order. Whew. Good luck. Edwardo
I have been working away for a few days so ive not really made much progress but here is the action so far. The heads are now off the engine. There is lots of crusty stuff under them. They came off surprisingly easily, i later realise that someone has been here before! I have bought the upgraded superformance teflon stem seals, it transpires the car already has them. I was hoping to find some perished rubber seals but unfortunately not. My previous pictures however looking up the exhaust ports prove that oil is getting passed them in to the combustion chambers. Could play in the valve guides be a cause of these seals wearing prematurely? Whilst stripping the parts out of the head, i wiggled the valves to check for play and estimate approx <1mm side to side. I had fun honing the spring covers on a neighbours lathe. Cheers for the tip Bell. Any comments anyone? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Stripping the cylinder heads down ready for the workshop to clean, I found 2 exhaust valves which didn't want to come out easily. It seems they have had grit or swarf embedded in the valve guides which has not only scratched the valve guide but actually worn a small area of the valve stem flat. These obviously need replacing. I'll post pics later. I also think that the oil was making its way into the cylinders via the stem seals. This is evident when you look at the exhaust port pics posted previously in this thread. I think the cause is too much play in the valve guides which is wearing the seals prematurely. You can actually see the seal flexing when the valve is wiggled. I am sure that, more so with the exhaust valves, that my valve guides/stems are out of spec. I wonder if the new exhaust valves which I need will reduce the play in the valve? Any opinions?
Hey Antwan, I'm out and about at the moment but will definitely posting on here tonight. It's about those sticking valves, really need to see them before they are cleaned up. I think this is the cause of my squeek, so please preserve the evidence All the best Bell.
To save time, it would be really useful to see all the valves in pairs showing the stems and the seats. Exhausts will be of most use. Also how far are you pulling the valves out to get 1mm of float. Do a video of this if possible. And how tight were the valves, wherever the swarf from? I'm thinking these engines are prone to this tight valve issue, but that's just one of my theory's data is what you need and if you are not a Ferrari garage that's hard to find.
Hi Bell good to hear from you. There have been around 5 valves which have been tight, all exhaust. When I have examined the stems, they have signs of a matt worn type finish right up the valve stem but they each have a small local area which looks like it has been chafing, about 3mm sq area. The valves will pull out about 10mm before locking and needing a tap to push out. At a guess I would say the valves start to bind at they point they would be on full cam, maybe earlier so your theory could be right. When I have examined the inside face of the guide, all affected valves have quite pronounced scratches. Do you think the soot caused by the oil burning has somehow got between the stem and guide? I have just finished bagging up each valves components in to individual bags so they go back where they came from so I will take photos of the damaged guides with their stems. Anything else?
Yes I think I have the same valve guide chaffing issue and it was that, what was making the squeek on hot cranking exhaust side. The racing oil has fixed it but at sometime I may be looking at a top end overhaul too. You need to do a video so we can see how much play there is OR Ferrari do give you a spec for this in the workshop manual also. Check valve springs are in spec too, Replace all exhaust valves whatever. Inlet valves can be replaced too but I would say that is optional based on condition. Guide scoring might be an issue, but could be left if not bad. Look if you have plenty of cash then get new seats, guides and valves but really this might not be necessary. The only reason for you seeing oil on the valves is stem oil seals unless the play in the valve guides is way out of spec I would leave the guides alone. Also DON'T get your heads skimmed!! I get so annoyed when people do this as a kind of default setting, it's done mainly through ignorance I think, but at the most a light reface will suffice. Remember you can only skim your heads a couple of times and then they are scrap! So don't use up valuable ''lives'' unnecessarily. It's all looking good so far though Antwan. It would be good to get some specs on those head pullers you made too ;-) All the best, Bell
Cheers. Just a quick one... under some of the lower valve spring seats, there is a spacer, like a repair washer. I thought this could be due to the head being skimmed previously but they are not consistent i.e. there may be 2 or 3 (not 4) for a single cylinder. What are these spacers?
Need to see them really and where they were, if springs are short where the shims were then it's a botch fix like Yelcab says. If springs are differant lengths then they will need to be replaced. The life cycle of a spring is that it gradually gets shorter in this application, and then it fails and you drop a valve or get a laud clicking noise. Regards Bell
Normally you do not have spacers for the retaining springs. If that is the case you also need to replace the spring set per cylinder like Bell said. I never replaced springs unless it wasn't looking good, but this engine has totally different characteristics then I am used to that I think I would replace them all on the exhaust side hearing this. Around 250 GBP for all 8 cylinders is my guess and don't re-surface the heads indeed. If you were to bring it away to do seats DO tell them not to re-surface else they might do it anyway.
Yes absolutely what MvT said....and just to make sure they don't refaced the head I actually write on the face of the heads in large letters. Do Not Skim or Reface That way there can be no mix ups in the machine shop which I have seen happen. Also beware some machine shops will try and get you to do a reface, don't fall for it. Unless there is corrosion or damage your heads are fine. I know I'm labouring the point but these people can be buggers and they will make work where they can for themselves.
Valve springs are only like $ 300.00 Less for my 2V heads,,, like $ 150.00 Cheap insurance.... Si Valves here in California,, makes good exhaust valves,, cheap too.
See below a photo of the underside of my cylinder heads. Tomorrow they are going to a machine shop to have valve guides replaced. In preparation i have been steam cleaning and removing all the old stuck on gaskets from the surfaces. They have cleaned up really well simply with steam and an old towel but i have noticed the underside of the heads are pitted with very small corrosion type holes, small black dots. Any idea on the cause? Unfortunately they do have depth but they are black in appearance so i presume they have been there some time. There are a couple of patches of more heavy corrosion but this is away from the water ways so not as bothered about this but i have circled them both on the image. Image Unavailable, Please Login