I'm gonna keep a log of what I'm doing, best place to put it is here at AF....
I've put this job off forever, lumina is my 2nd car, LIM failure + bad ticking. Haven't street driven it in 2 years, just cranked regulary and a little driving in front of the house.
Debated just doing the LIM quickly or go further and tear off the heads. Yesterday I pulled the manifolds, then today I got the front head off. This is the 2nd LIM - first one was the felpro plastic - silicone seals failed in the middle of the gasket.
Exhaust manifold stud at #1 cylinder sheared off, wasn't using that much force, had PB'd everything beforehand. Did not surprise me having a bolt shear off.
Of the 2 bolts on the exhaust collector behind the engine, one would not budge. At all. At least it didn't shear off. Decided to cut the exhaust pipe and pull the rear head out with manifold and collector attached - I already have a new cat/pipe anyway - current cat is clogged.
The oem exhaust is pretty dam tough, dremel with a diamond cutoff wheel wasn't doing anything, angle grinder is too many sparks... picked up an air powered metal saw on sale today, my next task is cutting the exhaust off and getting the head off.
Going ziploc bag crazy, everything small goes into a labeled ziplok, keeps bolts together with the part, dumb-proof not mixing up rockers and lifters. Less sorting thru parts when I got to reassemble.
Not in a hurry, hope to not take over a month, little bit at a time. And like hell if I'm using Dexcool again. And totally missed out on the dexcool settlement didn't know about it being settled until 2 months after the deadline.
Plans:
sandblast parts, clean, primer, paint everything (silver)
send injectors off to Mr Injector for rebuilding and flow testing
lap valves, new valve stem seals
new cat
add twin turbos and 100hp nitrous kit (im kidding!)
Anyone need pics of specific parts/locations while the engine is torn down let me know. Pic with the arrow shows where that oil pump o-ring hides... often recommended here to replace o-ring when doing LIM gasket. Ahhhh so that's where it's at....
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UPDATE: here in this post is a summary of 'lessons learned'
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take pictures all along the way. save lots of time and have a machine shop clean everything (except rocker/lifter/pushrods as you want to make sure they arent mixed up)
replacing cat? needed to jack car up where at least 1 wheel is off ground, that will give enough clearance to remove cat - it gets stuck on power steering lines. you'll need to remove the heat shield below for clearance. replacement magnaflow won't be threaded on rear flange - use four 35mm-40mm M10 bolts/nuts.
support engine on jack with wood block, under oil pan - you'll be removing top motor mounts and will need support.
removing heads. remove the block drain plugs on each side of engine - this will prevent coolant from leaking into the piston cylinders when you remove the heads. front is near oil filter, rear is near 7x sensor. if you have small arms you can reach around near the belts and reach drain plug with ratchet/14mm socket.
pre-install on heads - clean pistons, i used brake cleaner to clean the tops and cylinders, then sprayed some in each cylinder, cranked to get the pistons moving and hopefully get some crud out of the rings. lubricate piston/cylinders.
installing heads - install rear exhaust manifold on head before installing head - easier to torque correctly. check compression immediately on install. leave all spark plugs out at this time. install spark plugs after compression test, easier to reach. use new headbolts.
exhaust manifolds - remove heatshields, then soak exhaust studs/nuts and flange studs/nuts with PB blaster OVERNIGHT.
rockers/lifters/pushrods - label order and put in ziplock bag. disassemble lifters for cleaning. pre-prime lifters with oil before reinstall. make sure pushrod holes are clear. i torqued each rocker bolt with the rocker in the 'relaxed' position.
upper intake - remove plastic vacuum hose and send to shop for cleaning
lower intake - remove fuel rails, injectors, coolant temp sensor - send to show for cleaning
injectors - send off for rebuild (Mr Injector)
heads - rebuilt at machine shop, cleaned, recommend retapping diagonal intake holes (M8x1.25 helicoil 5546-8) and rocker threads (M10x1.5 helicoil 5546-10). I didn't re-thread the vertical intake threads but that is an option too. if you get new intake bolts - reuse shorter diagonal bolts if replacement bolt is shorter (fel-pro kit ES72225 - diagonal bolts too short)
oil pump drive - felpro 70800 o-ring and felpro 70194 dist mounting gasket for extra protection
oil pump primer - use 8mm socket on extension. tape socket to extension so it wont fall off. careful not to pull oil pump shaft out of oil pump. you will not get pressure to the lifter galleries.
cleaning crankcase - added 1 gallon diesel fuel to crankcase, let soak overnight. primed. drain. add 1 gallon diesel fuel and prime. drain. add oil. change this oil again after you get it running.
keep thermostat out for proper flushing. you'll need to remove throttle body to get to it.
if oil in coolant, remove clip and coolant level sensor in rad (side of rad, below filler neck). NEED small hands. clean crud off sensor to prevent false "low coolant level" light.